Fallout: Ash and Dirt - Volume 01 - Book 1: Survivors
by Jupitus Garth
Summary: A vault, sealed shut in 2077 is violently re-opened from the outside. The vault occupants are brutally slaughtered, save only a few, who find their way to the wastelands above. A battle of survival begins. This story follows original characters.
1. AaDSurvivors Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

The sound of air moved through ducts by fans hummed throughout the ventilation system within the underground vault, which had sealed it's blast doors the day the bombs fell, almost two hundred years ago.

For the auburn haired, twenty seven year old Scott Wilkins. Who slept to the sound of that hum every night, lived by the sound of that hum every day. It was almost inaudible to him. The vault was all he had ever known. The people in the vault were all he had ever met.

The walls were his horizon and the ceilings were his sky. Nothing made sense to him apart from that he had grown up with. A narrow viewpoint on a small world of familiar faces and never any strangers.

He was awakened from his night of slumber as his alarm sounded on his Pipboy, echoing off of the steel walls as it always had. He reached down to his left arm and shut it off with a tap of a button. He lay there for a moment, staring up at the patch of riveted metal above his head.

Scott threw the sheets off of him and slowly rose up out of bed. He rubbed his eyes before he made his way over to the bathroom in his underclothes, where he switched on the faucet, splashing his face with cold water. Moments later he grabbed his toothbrush and brushed his teeth, then combed his hair.

Once satisfied with his appearance, he made his way out of the bathroom. Attiring himself in his blue leather vault overall, labcoat and putting on his black rimmed glasses, he headed out of his room, down the corridor towards the vault diner.

After pouring himself some cereal, he sat down and began to eat. Moments later the door slid open and Jackie, a fellow vault dweller entered.

"Good mornin' Scott." she greeted.

"Mornin' Ms Jackie." he replied, both their voices filled the empty room with a thick southern drawl.

She walked over to the bar and poured herself a soft drink before making her way back to where Scott was sat.

"Up to anythin' interestin' today?"

"The usual." he replied after he finished swallowing a mouthful of cereal. "Mr Leonard is comin' down office about his bum leg, then I'm helpin' you and Dave with little Milly's tenth birthday party."

"Well my day is a little less happenin', that'll change after work, when I help you."

Scott pushed up his glasses that had been slowly sliding down the bridge of his nose. "Don't you get enjoyment out of teachin' the scamps?"

"Used too, but startin' to wonder if any of it matters."

Scott shook his head as he finished his last mouthful. "Don't say that." he said finally after clearing his mouth. "Your job is most important here. Without you we'd all be pokin' the reactor with sticks."

"Maybe."

Scott stood up from his chair. "Well I have to scoot." He told her.

"I'll see ya later sugar."

"See ya."

Scott rose up from his seat, placing his bowl on the back sideboard. He made his way out of the diner and headed down the long corridor towards the vaults medical centre. The door slid open allowing him to step inside. He made his way to the desk before switching on the vault PA system. Smooth jazz echoed through the room as he logged onto his terminal and looked over today's schedule.

"Let's see what the day has to offer." he said aloud to himself as he read through it. "All right, just Mr Leonard 'bout his leg."

He rose up from his chair and made his way over to the filing cabinet where he opened it and pulled out Leonard's file. As he walked back to his desk, he opened it and began to look through it. "Alright Leonard Hale, let's have a look at your history." He sat down and leant back in his chair.

The first thing that caught is eye was that he had suffered a radroach attack twenty years earlier. His left leg had been mauled, the same leg in fact that he was complaining about. They were most likely connected, but he'd have to wait till he got the chance to take a look at it.

Scott raised his head as he heard the buzzer on the door sound. He rose up from his seat and made his way across the room to the door. He hit the panel and the door slid open, revealing the aged, white haired vault engineer, Leonard.

"Hello Doc, here for my appointment."

"Mornin' Mr Leonard. Si'-down on the bed, I'll take a gander at your leg."

Leonard made his way with a limp into the office and made his way over to one of the beds, closely followed by Scott. He sat down on the edge of the bed while Scott took a slight detour to the desk where he picked up a clipboard and pencil.

"Just goin' to ask a few about your leg, okay?"

"Okay." The aged man agreed.

"Just to make sure, which leg is it?"

"Left."

Scott jotted it down on the paper. "Where 'bouts?"

"Lower leg round back."

Scott wrote it down before he placed the clipboard onto the side. "I'm going to ask you if I can take a look at it?"

"Sure." Leonard said as he leant down and pulled up his overall's left leg, exposing his own beneath.

Scott squatted down and had a look at the old scar from the radroach attack all those years ago. "Could be due to that roach attack you suffered twenty years back."

"Yer think there's a relation?" Leonard asked. "Thought there might."

"Have yer gone done anythin' that'd strain it?"

"No, just usual."

"Right, I'm gonna feel your calf, t'see if there's anythin' wrong."

"Sure."

Scott felt around the back of his leg where the scar lay. The muscle felt hard like rock as if it was under a lot of tension, or had been pulled.

"Is anythin' wrong?" Leonard asked him.

"Your muscle feels tight, y'should take a few days off, get some rest. Then we'll see, could be yer old wound coming back to haunt ya."

Leonard let out a heavy sigh as Scott stood up. "I knew this day'd come." the engineer said, sadness evident in his voice.

"What d'ya mean?"

"Gettin' too old to run her, Doc."

"Y'mean the reactor?"

"Yeah."

"If that's how you truly feel then, maybe you should start thinkin' about lettin' Sarah take over as the lead engineer."

Leonard shook his head in disagreement. "Not ready."

"She isn't?"

"Gets nervous 'round the reactor as of late."

"She does?"

"When she's on nights, she says she hears rumbles down there. Not nothin' wrong with Bessy, so must be somethin' wrong with Sarah."

Bessy was what the first engineer of the vault had called the reactor and the name had stuck ever since.

"Maybe just hearin' vibrations. Without the noise of the humdrum of day to day life, of people talkin' 'n stuff. Normal things that are usually inaudible, seem louder."

"Nah." Leonard disagreed. "Can't hear the rest of the vault from down there, must be somethin' else."

"Panels comin' loose?"

"nothin's loose, just the nuts in her brain."

"Okay then." Scott said with a shrug as he picked up the clipboard. "Take the few days off. Sarah can handle the reactor, b'sides she's not alone down there."

"Perhaps, perhaps I should start thinkin' on it."

Scott was just about to tell Leonard to head off home when the whole room vibrated and rumbled around them. Never before had Scott felt anything like it. It was as if the whole vault had just shuddered of cold or something.

"What in blazes!?" Leonard said as he pushed himself off the side of the bed. "What was that!?"

"I have no idea." Scott said, his heart starting to pound in his chest. Whatever had just happened it certainly wasn't good.

"I'll go check on the reactor." Leonard said as he strode out of the room.

Scott was about to protest, telling him to get some rest, when he decided against it. Whatever had happened, it was unlike anything he had ever experienced before in his entire life. That fact terrified him.

The intercom sounded followed by the voice of Oliver, the vaults Overseer, who happened to be a Type-I Mister Handy robot _"This is the Overseer, I am inquiring about the vibrations that just occurred. According to the status panel, the reactor has suffered damage, I require more information. Thank you." _The intercom went quiet.

Oliver wasn't the brightest on the block, he was a robot after all. He often seemed oblivious to things that lay outside his immediate jurisdiction, but had been instrumental in keeping the vault running as smoothly as it had done since the door had sealed shut almost two-hundred years ago.

"I'd like to know too." Scott said aloud to himself as he sat behind his desk, scratching his head wondering what was going on.

That's when the alarm klaxon began to wail. Its sudden sounding made Scott leap up from his chair in fright, something seriously wasn't right.

The intercom sounded again. This time the familiar voice of Sarah echoed over it. _"Emergency, we have a breach in the reactor room-"_

The intercom went deathly silent. Only the sounds of the ventilation system and Scott's own heavy breathing was audible. He wasn't sure, but it sounded like the reactor had suffered a serious malfunction.

The Overseer's voice echoed over the intercom once again with more information. _"This is the Overseer. The vault has been breached by persons unknown. All security to repel invaders. All civilian occupants to lock themselves in their homes till further __notice."_

The message was clear. Outsiders inside the vault, like a virus within the blood stream, the security forces like the white blood cells repelling the foreign bodies.

The door to his office slid open suddenly. Scott dived behind his desk, fearful of who it was.

"Doc, you in here!" Leonard's voice echoed.

Scott peered over the desk at him, making sure it was indeed Leonard.

"What're yer doin' down there?" the old engineer asked.

"I thought yer might be one of them!" Scott told him.

"You heard then?"

"Of course I did."

"What do we do?"

"No idea." Scott stood up from behind the desk. He moved around it gripping his left hand nervously with his right. _The kids! _He thought suddenly. "We gotta head to the schoolroom, get the kids some place safe."

Leonard nodded in agreement as they both left the office, hurrying down the corridor. Scott kept a slower pace, making sure that the older man could keep up.

They came to a door which slid open, Eric stood behind it, panting, out of breath. "You two, we gotta go!" he shouted feverishly. "Can't stay here, we gotta go!"

"Go where?" Scott asked, the feeling of terror welling uncontrollably inside of him. Something was wrong, _badly _wrong.

"They're in the vault, killin' everythin'!" Eric yelled.

Leonard glanced at Scott. "Who are they?" the old engineer asked.

"What d'they want?" Scott added.

"No idea, we gotta go!"

Scott held his hands up and waved them trying to focus Eric's attention. "Hold on, what 'bout the kids?"

Eric shook his head. "No." he said.

"What ya mean no?" Scott responded angrily.

"They killed them!" Eric shouted out in devastation. "Gunned them down with guns I never saw before!"

"What!" Scott couldn't believe what he was hearing. The invaders just killed the children? Shot them without a hint of remorse?

"They've got guns like devil machines. Fire bullet after bullet faster than you can count!" he sobbed. "We gotta go!"

Scott looked behind Eric as a group of strangers came walking down the corridor. Their clothes were ragged, and their skin thick with dirt. They raised their weapons.

"Look out!" Scott shouted. It was already too late, they opened fire and Eric was struck, killing him with a horde of bullets. "Eric!"

The lead stranger smiled a sick and twisted as they stopped shooting. "He's dead!"

"Why!" Scott demanded.

He didn't answer the question, he just laughed. Then threatened him, mockingly. "Take a good look, 'cause that's where you're headed!"

Leonard quickly hit the door panel, sealing the door shut. "That'll hold 'em fer a few moments, we gotta go now!"

They both turned, leaving the area as fast as they could. The door slid open before they could make it to the T-junction and the murderers opened fire. They hit the metal walls as they ran down the corridor, closing the next door behind them. The two of them continued on down the long corridor, in half a sprint. Panting at the unusual exercise.

As they reached the base of some stairs that lead up to the next level. The sounds of close gunfire echoed down the corridor, and the sparks of ricocheting bullets flew off the steel walls.

Leonard let out a yelp as he fell to the ground, blood coming from multiple holes left in his overall.

"Leonard!" Scott yelled, pausing at the sight of his vault kin laying in a pool of his own blood.

"Just go!" Leonard strained. "Go, survive!"

"But."

He heard the gunmen laughing in the corridor. They were laughing at his plight, at _their_ plight. The killing, the murder. It delighted them, gave them joy.

"Go!" Leonard yelled at him angrilly.

He heard the killers shout down after him. "Yeah, go! Run for your life!"

They were mocking him. The Death was nothing but a game to them. Just the thought of others getting so much joy, from such killing made him feel ill.

"Goodbye Mr Leonard." Scott said with a finality, as he turned and ran up the stairs.

There was only one place he could think to head from here, the Overseer's office. He heard the butchers mock him as he ran down the hallway that lay at the top of the stairs.

"Run coward, we'll kill you soon enough!"

He headed up a set of stairs and through a door straight into a group of handguns that pointed straight at him. He let out a yelp, before noticing that luckily, behind those handguns was a group of vault security.

"Scott, get behind us!"

He did so, quickly. "What's happening!?" he asked them, his voice shaky. He knew full well what was happening. Everyone in the vault was getting gunned down. He didn't even know how many there were. That small group that had killed Eric and Leonard might only be a small percent of the total force.

"Get up to the Overseer's office." Jones, the head of vault security bellowed. "We're waitin' fer any survivors to come this way."

"Who's made it here?" Scott asked them, his voice shaky, almost frantic. So much had happened in such a short time, that his mind had yet to fully process it.

"No one, just you." Jones told him. "Up till now anyways."

"Who's up there?"

"Just Mr Oliver, and his assistant, Peter."

Scott looked up the stairs ahead, then back at the security officer. "Aren't any of yer comin'?"

"We need t'stay here to guard the office. Other security men are looking fer folks right now."

Scott hesitated before he continued on, up the stairs and into the office.

Oliver turned to him, the front centre of his three eyes looked at him. "I'm afraid things are looking very grim." The robot said. "Very grim indeed."

Peter folded his arms, his face sullen. "We've lost the vault, Scott." he rubbed his face, a gun in one hand. "Ten minutes is all it took for them to wipe us out." Peter passed Scott the gun, his hand trembling.

Scott took it reluctantly. He looked at the death instrument, It's cold steel a reflection of it's purpose. To kill. He brought his head up back and looked at Peter. "Why are ya giving me this?" he asked him, as he pushed up his glasses that had slid down his nose.

"You'll need it." Peter responded as he checked his own ten-millimetre handgun.

Scott peered back down at it. As he looked along its barrel, he noticed the design, a familiar design that he'd seen before. He looked across at the ornamental stand, that lay on the wall to the left of the Overseer's control console. The stand lay empty, the ornamental weapon removed. "This is the decorative revolver." he said. "How will this help me?"

"It's a real gun, Scott." Peter explained as he handed him a bandoleer ammo belt and a holster. "Put these on under yer coat."

Oliver hovered over to him. "Normally it is against the rules to remove the gun, however times call for drastic action."

Scott took off his coat and put the ammo belt and holster on, putting his coat back on over them. "I'm not happy with the idea of shootin' people." Scott informed them. "I'm a doctor."

Peter scowled. "Get over yerself Scott, they wont think twice 'bout killing you." He turned to the Overseer. "I say we prepare to abandon the vault!"

"Abandon the vault?" Scott asked in shock.

Oliver hovered over to the main control desk. "It is a sound idea."

Peter walked over to a nearby wooden desk and picked up a ten millimetre handgun. "You two should get to the exit and wait there. I'll send anyone that comes up here through to you."

Scott didn't agree with that at all. "We can't just leave like that, what about the radiation?"

"We'll have to risk it, now go."

Scott looked at the door that lead back out into the corridor. "Don't we have to go out through the intruders to get to the exit door?"

Oliver hovered over to the ornamental stand. "There is a secret passage through here."

Scott walked over to it. "How do we open it?" he asked.

"Only I can open it." Oliver stated. "Stand back."

Moments later the stand clicked and slid to the side, revealing a door. Both Oliver and Scott made headed through the door and down a steel corridor before they entered the main entrance room through a wheel lock hatch.

Scott felt his jaw go slack, as he stared at the large cog shaped wheel blast door. It was all that stood between them and the outdoors. All that had blocked the radiation from seeping into the vault, irradiating them all.

Moments later he heard footsteps echoing down the hallway from the Overseer's office. Scott looked down to see Peter running towards them. "Is there no one else?" he asked in shock.

"They're right behind me!" he shouted back. "Open the blasted door!"

Peter ran into the room, closing the door behind him spinning the wheel lock on the hatch to seal it.

Oliver moved over to the hatch. "Perhaps I should flame this door and heat it up, so that they cannot open it without burning themselves." A flame leapt from Oliver against the door.

Scott stared at Peter. "Where is everyone else?"

"They burst into the room and I ran. Jones tried to stop them, but." He shook his head with a sob. "I don't know how anyone else can get out this way. Not without getting killed by them."

Scott turned silently to the small elevated door control panel. After a moment he pulled down on a lever and a siren sounded. Both Scott and Peter stared out to the rocky tunnel beyond, lighten up by old electric lamps.

Scott was about to say something, when there was a loud bang from the door Oliver was protecting. The Overseer robot moved out of the way, as the heavy hatch fell away from it's hinges, in a cloud of dust and smoke. At any time, the killers could now run through the open doorway and start their unrestrained murder.

"Oh no!" Scott yelled. He knew they could not stay there, they had to go, and they had to do so now. Scott moved away from the console in a hurry. "Head for the outside!" he shouted with dire urgency.

All three of them ran out, heading into the long cave system beyond. They all turned around as the siren sounded once more. The huge blast door slid shut with the screech of rubbing metal, locking the three of them out of the vault, out of their home forever.


	2. AaDSurvivors Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

The three of them had been moving through the charred, dead forest for the passed several hours. The trees creaked in the wind as it blew gently through them.

Non of them had spoken since they had left the vault apart from Oliver who commented on numerous things around them, almost as if he didn't really comprehend the loss of the vault and everyone in it.

"May I suggest that the two of you take a break?" Oliver suggested.

Neither Scott nor Peter responded, they didn't want to acknowledge their situation. The thought that they were the only ones to survive weighed heavily on them. They had waited hours outside the door. Hoping that it would open to the sight of friends, but it hadn't happened. When they had decided to move on, they found themselves trying to navigate the cave. Eventually they discovered the entrance, finding themselves in the vast expanse of the outside world.

The sight had caused Scott to run back into the cave for a time, but eventually they made their way out, heading northwards into the wasteland.

Oliver spoke again. "I must insist that you get some rest."

Scott shook his head. "Yer have to make it a command, Overseer."

"I cannot order you too take a rest, as I am no longer Overseer."

Scott paused, followed shortly afterwards by Peter who halted a few paces ahead. "What?" Scott asked.

"I am no longer the Overseer. I was programmed such that once the vault was unsealed I would automatically relinquish my role as leader."

"Then who's in charge now?"

"It was determined by vote."

Peter folded his arms. "Not enough for a vote, so I'm takin' charge. We push forward till we find somewhere less exposed."

"Not much more secluded than this, unless you find a building." Oliver informed them.

Peter threw his hands up into the air. "Hell with it then, I'm tired and worn out."

Oliver turned to look at a fallen tree. "perhaps you could take a rest there, next to the tree that has growth on it."

Scott made his way over to the tree that lay next to the fallen one. He activated his Pipboy before he scraped some of the growth off and analysed it closely. "Looks like mould." He said before throwing it to the ground. "Can't eat it, we'd get real sick if we tried."

"Somethin' needs to be." Peter said angrily. "Or we'll die pretty quick." Peter sat on the log, letting out a long sigh. "Pretty lumpy, too tired t'care."

Scott sat beside him. "Yeah, feels good to get off my feet."

Peter brought up his own Pipboy, scrolling through the screens. "The map on my Pip shows a road up ahead. Could be a town up north by the looks of it." Peter leant forward rubbing his face with his hands. "They're all dead." he said with a sudden realisation.

"You okay?" Scott asked him.

"No." he replied firmly. "Ya shouldn't be neither, it's all wrong, all of it!"

"Of course it's wrong!" Scott replied with anger. Just this afternoon he was supposed to be helping set up a birthday party. Now it was little more than a memory of a promise that could never be fulfilled. A tear rolled down his cheek. Everything they knew had ended. "They were all so precious."

Peter wiped away his own tears. "I have no idea what t'do from here."

"What is there to do?" Scott asked. "There's no where we can go."

"We survive." he put simply. "That's what they'd all want." He stood up. "Maybe we should see if there's a town up north. Maybe there's people there?"

Scott shuddered. "Y'mean like those that killed everyone?"

"Well we can't stay here can we?"

Scott stood up and turned to Oliver. "You've been quiet? Anything up?"

"I have been observing your reactions."

"And?"

"I believe that the emotional states you both are in is bad for your health."

Peter looked up at the high, eternal sky. "Maybe so, let's just get to that road."

They headed out of the woodland onto the smashed road beyond. Scott looked down at it.

"Everythin' out here stinks of death. The road is smashed, the trees are all dead. We ain't seen a single creature since we got out here." he said, as he looked at Peter.

Peter looked onwards. "Let's just head up here. We need food and we need shelter." They moved onwards slowly. Their destination unsure.

An hour later they entered the town. All around them were smashed buildings and derelict cars. Everything looked as though it had stopped on the day the bombs fell and had simply decayed, unused, untouched. If those that broke into their home did come from here, then there was no evidence of it.

"I find this place very depressing." Scott said as he peered through a car wind shield. "This place used to be full of life, now look at it."

Peter looked down at the road. "I'm trying not to think about it."

"Seein' all these burnt out cars and smashed houses, I can't help but feel think about the world, how it used to be, what's been left behind."

"Sure."

"All those folks that lived and died out here. All those people that died when the bombs fell on their heads." Scott walked over to one of the smashed cars and placed his hand on the roof.

"Why are yer touchin' that?" Peter asked.

Scott reached down for the handle and gave it a tug, it was stuck. After pulling harder it finally gave way with a creak as it swung open. He looked inside. "Someone used this car to get to and from where they worked. It must have been a wonderful experience to travel in such a thing." He pushed the car door closed and looked towards a mailbox that lay at the end of a house driveway. "Let's see what the last thing they got was?"

"No, Scott." Peter told him. "Don't go through the dead's mail."

He walked over to the mailbox and opened it, looking inside shortly before pulling out an envelope. He opened it and pulled out a card. "A birthday card." he said. "Just like little Milly." he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Scott, maybe you shouldn't do that."

He put the envelope back before he pulled out more mail.

"Can we not do this?" Peter asked sadly.

Scott began to read it. "It's a message from Vault-Tec. It basically says that they don't have a place in a vault. It must have been awful knowing that yer family weren't safe." He looked across at the decaying house. "How could the nations of the world have let it get to this? Why were the people so greedy? If only they'd taken a step back. But they were so hungry for crap they didn't need, that they couldn't see that their greed would lead to this. The end of the world."

"Yeah."

Scott put the mail back into the box and closed it. He looked up into the sky. It was so high and so far away. "Look up there." He said in awe. "The clouds, so far away. I feel like I could just fall upwards into them at any moment." He looked around him. "Everythin' looks so bright, so brown, so spread out."

Peter folded his arms and shivered. "Yeah, I guess until I got out here I had no idea how far my eyes could see."

"The air smells different." Scott said with wonder. "The wind, is cold, yet the sun feels warm on my face. I always wondered what it was like to feel the wind blow through my hair and to feel the sun on my skin. Here it is. We only had to loose everythin' to experience it."

"Let's get moving." Peter said, not wanting to think about it.

They headed onwards through the deserted ghost town, Oliver remaining the quiet observer.

"How did they all let this happen?" Scott asked no one in particular.

"Dwellin' on happenstance won't change the now." Peter warned. "Don't get caught up in it."

"Nuclear weapons though?" he said in astonishment. "Were they crazy? They had to know that this is how it'd end?"

"Who knows what th'all were thinkin'."

"No food, no water. Is this how it ends for us? Just extra bodies to the pile?"

Oliver decided to speak up. "There may be no food, but there is water."

The two of them looked at the robot. Peter folded his arms.

"What d'ya mean there's water?"

"My condensation collectors have been collecting water for the passed few hours, sirs."

Scott found himself smiling. "Really?" he asked.

"I have achieved two pints in the passed eight hours. You can both take turns drinking from my nozzle if you'd like."

The thought of getting a drink was very much appealing, yet neither of them fancied drinking from his 'nozzle', wherever that was.

Scott looked to Peter then at Oliver. "Do you have any glasses of bottles?"

"No, sir."

Peter stepped forward. "Well I'm going to take a drink no matter how weird it looks."

Oliver lowered his nozzle.

"That's where it is? Alright." He bent over and cupped his hands while Oliver dispensed some water. Peter drunk some, moments later Scott did the same.

After a moment, Scott looked around them. "Any idea where we go from here?"

"None."

Scott looked at the buildings and saw some signs. "Wait." he uttered.

"What is it?" Peter asked alarmed.

"What does that sign say?"

"What sign?"

"I recognize the name of the street, my father gave me somethin' on this." Scott began to scroll through his Pipboy menus till he found what he was looking for. "Here it is. My father left me some instructions on how to find my ancestor's old house. He told me to pass it down also. This is the main street, I think I can direct us there with these instructions on my Pipboy. They left somethin' for us, when we got out, c'mon."

"Let's hope it's good"

* * *

They headed down the street where Scott's ancestral home was supposed to be located. So far they hadn't discovered anything, but that hardly meant they wouldn't.

"It's somewhere down this street." Scott said with hope. "I know it."

They passed a few more houses before Oliver jetted off towards a mailbox.

"What is it?" Peter asked.

"This object says 'Wilkins' on it." Oliver said.

Both Scott and Peter ran over to where the robot hovered.

"This is it!" Scott said as he read the name himself. "This is my ancestor's house!"

He looked at the house that lay ahead. It was mostly intact apart from the huge hole in the roof.

"It is also Peter's ancestor's house." Oliver told them.

"What?" Scott asked.

"You two are related. Your grandmother, Scott is Peter's great aunt."

Peter looked over at Scott. "Yeah, and?"

Scott ran up to the house. "Never mind that, let's find a way in." Scott pulled on the front door only to find it was locked. "Let's try around the back." he said as he made his way around, followed closely by Peter and Oliver.

Around the back, they found that part of the wall was partially destroyed. By what it was unclear, but Scott climbed in through it. Once inside he made his way to the back door and found it was unlocked. He opened it and let the other two in.

Peter looked around at all the debris that was strewn all over. "What a mess." he commented.

Scott frowned, pushing his glasses up from the end of his nose back up to the top. "It has stood through an apocalypse."

"Point taken."

Scott looked at his Pipboy for further instructions. "Okay, accordin' t'this we head to the basement."

"Let's hope they left somethin' good."

Scott walked around, looking for the door. He opened one, only to find it was a closet. "Oops, wrong one." he said before he opened another door. "Ahh, this is the one." He turned to Oliver. "You mind keeping watch up here in case there be bad people?"

"Of course, sir."

They both turn on their Pipboy lights as they descended into the dark basement.

"See anything?" Scott asked Peter as they began to wander around the dark room.

"Nothin'"

"Maybe I should see if there's any more info." He looked at his Pipboy once again. "It says there's a safe under a rug. See a rug?"

"One over there." Peter said pointing.

They both moved over to it and slid it to the side, revealing an old safe beneath.

"Do you have the combo?" Peter asked.

"Just a moment." Scott said as he looked at the instructions. "It's one-six-four-seven."

Peter knelt down and put in the combination. The safe clicked and the door swung open.

"What do we have?"

Peter looked up at him. "Maybe you should check."

Scott knelt down and peered inside. "A load of Rad-x and a sheet of paper." He reached in and pulled the paper out. "It's a message."

"Are you gonna read it?"

Scott cleared his throat and read it aloud. "Hello. This is a message t'those who will be born into the horrible future that has been put upon all of us. The Lord has seen that the world will be wiped of sin. The first time it was by water and this time it will be by fire. Hopefully you're of our descent, but if you aren't please take one Rad-x pack but leave the rest. It was difficult getting a hold of these, but my brother-in-law was able to get them for us. You'll need them. Try to survive, try to remain true. The lord will be watching."

"That it?" Peter asked.

"Could be something buried beneath all these Rad-x's." Scott began to pull out all of the packets of radiation medicine. Beneath them all he found a food sanitizer. "Now this might be useful."

"What is it?" Peter asked.

"It removes radiation from food."

"Oh good, if only we could find some food."

"Well maybe we could get Oliver to carry all this stuff in his storage compartment?" Scott pondered.

Peter smiled. "I'll go fetch him." Peter ran up the stairs, moments later he returned, Oliver close behind.

Scott stood up. "Can you carry all of this."

Oliver didn't seem too pleased with the idea. "Sure make the robot carry everything."

Scott's eyebrows raised. "What?"

"I am obligated to oblige your request, sir." Oliver corrected.

Scott picked up an armful of Rad-x and put it into the storage compartment. "I think there's room for the food sanitizer."

"If you must then you must." Oliver chided.

Scott put the item in then closed the storage hatch. "That's it." he told them.

"What now?" Peter asked.

"I guess we stay here for the night."

"Here?"

"Maybe there's food in the refrigerator."

Peter scoffed. "I'm not eating anythin' that's been rottin' for two centuries."

"Don't worry." Scott said lifting up his Pipboy arm. "These will tell us whether or not the food is edible."

"I can tell you they won't be."

They all headed back up the stairs into the kitchen. Scott opened the refrigerator door, instantly grabbing his nose. "That's disgusting." he uttered under gasps.

"Still want some?" Peter mocked. "Or is it not rancid enough for ya?"

Oliver decided to join in the mockery. "Yes that would be grand if he did, though you'd probably have me clean up the vomit."

"Seriously though." Peter added. "Shut the door 'fore you stink the whole place out."

Scott closed the door. "I'm off upstairs. Anyone wanna join me or are ya just gonna keep makin' fun?"

"If makin' fun takes the mind of things, then is it so bad?" Peter questioned.

"Probable not, though I'm off upstairs anyway."

Scott left the kitchen and began to walk up the stairs only to have them collapse beneath him, leaving him laying in a heap of broken wood.

Peter ran over to him to attempt to help him out. "Are you alright?" he asked as he held out his hand.

"Damn it!" Scott cried out as he took his hand. "Why did they have to break into the vault?" he asked as he got to his feet. "Why did they have t'kill everyone? We were all happy, I was happy. Now it's all gone!"

Suddenly the wall exploded into a mass of splintering wood, knocking both Scott and Peter down hard onto the ground, the wood setting ablaze.

"Did we get 'em?" a voice asked from outside.

"Wait for the dust to settle." another said.

"What about the fire?" The first asked.

"If they ain't dead, then that'll kill 'em." The second replied.

Scott slowly rose to his feet, his left leg giving him pain. He looked around frantically in the thickening smoke for Peter. He soon found him.

"Peter." he said softly. There was no response. He gripped him by the shoulders and shook him. There was nothing. He reached for his neck and placed is fore finger and middle finger on his jugular and felt for a pulse. Scott gasped when he felt no pulse. He shook his friend again. "No!" he sobbed. "Wake up." It was no use. The amount of blood seeping from his friends head showed that there was nothing he could do. Chest compressions would be futile.

His friend was dead. Like so many before him. Was this how it was going to end? To die at the hand of another? To be murdered for no reason?

_No!_ He couldn't be dead. He had to be alive, _had _to be. Scott shook him harder, slapping his face. He couldn't leave him, not now. They had to survive. How could they do that if Peter was dead. But he was dead, and Scott knew it. No matter how hard he wanted it, he wasn't coming back. Neither were the ones in the vault. They were dead, and he would just have to except it.

"I'm sorry Peter." he sobbed as he climbed unsteadily back to his feet, grimacing slightly at the pain in his left leg. He turned around, looking for Oliver within the fire and smoke that was quickly surrounding them. "Oliver!" he yelled out.

"I'm here sir." the familiar robotic voice said from somewhere in the darkness of flame, smoke and dust.

"Sounds like they're still alive." a voice said.

"We've been sent to kill ya, can't have any of ya escapin' now can we?"

Scott scrambled for his gun. He had to shoot them, kill them. Or they would most certainly do the same to him. He heard gunshots echo from outside. He dived to the ground and waited, smoke beginning to fill his lungs.

After a moment he crawled out of the burning house, coughing harshly, trying to find his breath. As he made his way forward, clear from the burning house. He saw Oliver, hovering over two dead bodies.

"Did ya do that?" Scott asked with a raspy breath, stifling the urge to cough more.

"No sir, they were already like this?"

"Then who?"

"I have no idea."

Scott didn't want to find out. Let's just get out of here!" he said. He coughed once more, bringing some vomit up into his mouth.

"Yes, sir."

He spat the vile liquid from his mouth onto the pavement, wiping the excess from his mouth. They both began to move forwards quickly, Scott limping on his pained leg. Whoever had killed the two men, Scott didn't want to wait and see if they were still here.

As he hobbled along, he looked back at the now almost completely destroyed house. The flames leapt up from the roof as thick black smoke filled the sky like a beacon.

"Goodbye Peter." he said before he turned away. They continued on, their destination unknown, their chances of survival almost non existent.

They would have to survive, if only so the memory of those that had died today wouldn't be forgotten.

Scott wouldn't forget, not as long as he drew breath.


	3. AaDSurvivors Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

The glow from the fire light washed the area yellow, and cast dark unsettling shadows among the brown, dead trees. Their branches like reaching limbs ready to kill anything that wandered too closely. Scott sat there on his now filthy lab-coat in that firelight, while Oliver rested on the floor, his hover jet deactivated.

It had been a few hours since they had set up camp here, where Oliver had used his flamer to light the firewood, that Scott had gathered and placed. Neither knew if they had done it properly, or how long the fire would last. All it needed to do was last the night, to last until the sun rose above the horizon.

The first problem Scott had to overcome, was the constant thought in the back of his mind that kept telling him, that all he needed to do was to find a light switch. For his entire life, that is all he did if he wanted light. To switch it on. Now all he had was the firelight, and an oppressive darkness that surrounded them.

In the distance, the sounds of animals making noises unsettled him, but not as much as the fire itself. He feared it would attract the wild animals to them, that they could get ambushed at any moment. Every slight noise, every crack of one of the ancient tree branches moving in the wind, would get his heart racing and a sick feeling in his stomach.

When his stomach wasn't churning because of fear, it was doing so out of hunger. He hadn't eaten anything since he left the vault, yesterday morning. By the digital time piece on his Pipboy, it was two-o'clock in the morning, and in his mind he knew that not only was he not going to be able to eat anything, but he wasn't going to sleep either.

Being a doctor, he knew what that meant. It was bad for his health, not only physically, but mentally as well. If he didn't get anything to eat, and if he couldn't sleep, then his health would deteriorate very quickly.

There was a sudden snap of wood behind him. Scott jumped up from where he sat and spun around. Looking out into the darkness. He couldn't see anything, couldn't make a single thing out.

"Hello?" he said to the darkness. "Anyone there?"

There was no response, there never was. Not now, not the other twenty times he had heard something. His mind was playing tricks on him. Every tiny sound was being amplified by his own paranoia. He had read somewhere that animals liked to move away from fire, a kind of natural instinct. Fire usually meant something bad, in the case of their camp-fire, it was something quite good.

Scott looked across at Oliver, who spun his three sensors around as he had been doing periodically. He assumed he was keeping a lookout, but in truth he had no idea what his robotic companion was doing. Oliver could have been trying, in vain, to make himself dizzy, or maybe thought he was the wheel of one of those pre-war bicycles, or indeed any number of things. Scott was too tired though to really care what he was doing. He needed sleep, but the noises and openness of the wasteland kept him awake.

Once more as he had done an hour ago, Scott lay on his lab-coat that lay on the dirt beneath him, and once again he tried to sleep. He closed his eyes, and tried to concentrate on the crackling of the wood-fire. He tried to clear his mind. But again, something snapped out in the dead woodland, and once again his eyes shot open.

He sat up and looked around. He bit his tongue, lest he ask the night the same thing he had asked it over and over. Was there someone there? Probably not, just some small animals running around. Though the thought of wild creatures lurking near him was enough to put him on full alert once more. Wild animals were wild. They didn't care for his safety, they didn't care for his privacy. If they wanted something from him, then they'd just come and take it. Even if it was his life.

He pulled his knees up close to his torso, and hugged them with his arms. Being outside was horrible. He didn't like it. It was too uncontrolled, nothing had order.

He heard a crack, this time much louder, and much closer. Oliver's jet started up as he pushed himself off the ground.

Scott turned to him. "Ya see somethin'?"

"There is something nearby, sir." Oliver said.

Scott grabbed his gun and checked the barrel to make sure it was loaded. Satisfied, he stood up, revolver in hand.

Oliver began to move about, pointing his flamer arm into the darkness beyond the light cast by the fire.

"Where are you?" the robot said into the night. He hovered around some more, before he sat himself back down onto the dirt. His arms folded up, his jet shut down.

"What're you doing?" Scott asked him.

"Must have run off!" Oliver responded.

Scott looked around unconvinced. "Are ya sure they ran off?" he asked. He waited for what seemed like an eternity, listening intently to the breeze as it blew through the dead woodland. When he heard nothing more, he sat back down onto the dirt. His heart was thumping in his chest, it took everything he had not to just run as fast as he could. To just run back in the direction of the vault.

He placed the gun carefully back down onto the dirt next to it's holster, before laying back down on his coat, his eyes wide open. His fear was greater than his ability to sleep. He just lay there afraid, absolutely terrified that if he fell asleep, he would never awake.

Scott found that his mind drifted back to life in the vault, to how things had been. He had taken everything he had, every single person he knew for granted. It had never crossed his mind in all twenty-seven years he had been alive, that everything he knew, loved and cherished, could be ripped away so completely.

Images of faces began to flow through his mind. Faces he would never see again. What did little Michael look like? He couldn't remember. All he saw when he thought of the kid, was his father Alex's face. Already faces were beginning to leave his mind. Already he was beginning to forget those he had held so close. Yet at the time he hadn't realised it. They were gone. Everything was gone.

He tried to halt the tears that welled up in his eyes, tried to stem the flow of pure emotion that threatened to break forth. He was tired, worn out. Life had dealt him the loosing hand, those that had died were the lucky ones. All he had left was a slow and painful death.

He held back no longer. The tears flowed as he sobbed in the night. He cried for everyone he had lost. He wept because he no longer wished to keep the emotions locked away.

Scott wiped away the tears and sniffled. He wanted nothing more than to just cry forever. To scream out to the world. To blame the universe itself, for everything that had happened to him.

Instead he just lay there. He lay there because there was nothing else he could do. All shouting and balling would do was attract attention, most likely unwanted attention. So he simply remained where he was, and stared up at the dark, cloudy sky.

Soon that sky began to grow lighter, and the fire began to dwindle, to slowly decay until it was nothing more than a smouldering pile of ash. He rose up, having had no sleep.

He picked up the holster and put it on, before he picked up the gun, placing it carefully into it. He then retrieved his now dirty, dusty coat and walked over to Oliver.

"Time to go." he told his companion.

Oliver powered up and began to hover once again, his jet wash giving off a strange eerie blue. Scott checked the time. It was four-thirty in the morning. He didn't care, he just wanted to move on. He just wanted to be away from here. But to where he had no clue. His life had no meaning any more, he was simply surviving from day to day.

They moved onward. His Pipboy told him the direction they headed was north. To where, He did not know. How could he? There was nothing left. The world was a mere husk, a charred remnant of what it once was. Humanity had destroyed it, and for that crime they could never be forgiven, they should never be forgiven. Perhaps this was his punishment, for the sins of his forefathers.


	4. AaDSurvivors Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

The cupboard was cold, small and cramped. For Milly however, it had also saved her life. When Sarah had shoved her in here, she had told her not to make a sound. To stay inside till it was safe to come out. The big bad people had then fired their loud guns, and she heard them talk. They said bad words before they moved on. Then more came, then more. Finally she stopped hearing them enter. That's when the siren sounded. It wailed loudly, almost deafeningly so. Milly remained in the cupboard. She did as she was told. She was ten today, and she was a good girl. She knew she had to stay put till it was safe. So she stayed put, for how long she didn't know. She stayed there, hidden and frightened for hours. Not daring to move, until finally dawned on her that nobody was coming.

Milly pushed the cupboard door open and crawled out. The reactor room was dark, darker than she thought it should be. She felt something cold, soft and wet beneath her hand.

"Ewww!" she said, snatching her hand away. She looked closely at what it was she had touched, only to gasp in horror at the realisation that not only was it Sarah, but that she was dead.

Milly put her arms around the body as best she could, given her small frame, and hugged her tightly around the waist. She began to cry uncontrollably. Never before had she seen death, ever seen so much blood.

She stayed with Sarah, hugging her for a long time. For how long, she didn't know. But eventually her tears dried up. Why hadn't anyone come down here yet? Why hadn't anyone checked in on them?

With great reluctance, she decided to find out. She pushed herself off of Sarah's body and made her way over to the door that lead out of the reactor room, to the stairwell that lead to the maintenance level. With a push of the button, the door slid open. Light shone in from the artificial lighting on the ceiling in the stairwell, casting strange shadows into the room.

Milly made her way forward slowly, up the stairs. The corridor looked empty, but the room at the end of the corridor to the right had some people in it. She snook down the corridor, and peered through the window into the room. She saw strange men and women inside, wearing peculiar blood stained clothes. They were drinking and laughing loudly, not caring that Sarah lay dead in the reactor room.

She moved off down the corridor, in the vain hope that she would see someone she knew. That they were just waiting to rush in to this area of the vault and kick the bad people out.

After moving down about thirty feet, Milly came to a corner where the corridor made a right angle turn. She kept close to the wall, peering around it. On the floor was more blood. Some of it was smeared as if someone had been dragging something through it.

Today was Milly's birthday. It was supposed to be a fun day. It wasn't, it was horrible. This morning, she was meant to be in school, but Sarah had taken her to see the reactor room instead, as a present. At this moment, it looked like it might be the only gift she would get today.

Reluctantly, Milly continued on, hugging her back against the steel wall. Soon she came to the stairs that lead up to to the hydroponics level. Slowly but surely, she made her way up them to a T-junction.

After looking both ways, not seeing anything but more smeared blood. She decided to go the route that looked less dangerous, by it having much less blood than the other. Soon however, she came to another corner, where people could be heard talking. She peered around it, looking at two strangers talking. They wore the odd clothes that the people in the room down stairs had been wearing.

What they were saying, she couldn't quite make out. From what was audible to her, it was apparent that they had killed everyone.

Milly couldn't hold it in. Her knees buckled as she began to cry, her sobs becoming louder, more uncontrolled.

"What the?" one of the men said, as they both turned to look at the balling child who lay on the floor.

"It's one of the vault kids." the other replied. "Should we end it for her."

"Nah, let her be. She's got no where to run. I'll tell the others we got a live one. Far too late for her to be any real trouble now."

One of the men began to approach her slowly. Milly looked up and shrieked. She clambered back to her feet and began to ease backwards away from him.

"Look kid." he said to her. "There's no one left but you. No point in fighting. Just accept that everyone you knew is gone and that we're the only ones you got now."

With a hefty shake of the head she shouted back at him through sobs of grief. "No!" She turned and ran,

"Fucking hell!" he shouted after her. "Yer gonna get yerself killed kid!"

She no longer cared, she just wanted to be away from here, she wanted her momma and papa, but they were dead. She knew it in her heart that everyone was dead, that no one was left and she was all alone.

Without thought she ran as fast as she could back to the reactor room where Sarah's body lay. She stared at it in the darkness for a moment, before she heard shouting from somewhere behind her, from up the stairs. She ran into the next area of the reactor to see a gaping hole in the wall. She peered back for a moment, hoping that through the door would come her parents to save her.

With a fierce determination that welled up within her, she decided to leave, to run through the gaping maw, out into the unknown beyond. To where, she had no idea. She didn't know anything anymore. All she knew was that she had to get away, to flee far away from here.

The tunnel was almost pitch black, the ground uneven and dangerous. Milly crawled on her hands and knees as the tunnel started to make an shallow incline, trying to rush, but avoid falling also.

Eventually she broke free of the tunnel and out into the dark blue of the very early morning. She shrieked at the vastness of it, at the tiny specks in the sky, at the towering limbs jutting out of the ground. She almost turned back, but light from torches flickered and people shouted. With a deep breath, she ran out into the night. Her legs moving as fast as they could carry her.

She tripped on something and went sprawling across the dirt. If it wasn't for her thick vault suit, her knees and arms would have been grazed badly by the rough terrain. Milly looked at her left arm, wishing she had gotten her Pipboy. She would have been awarded it later on at her party, but now she would never get one.

The darkness surrounded her, as she lay there on the ground. Her eyes grew wet as another torrent of tears flowed freely from them. There was nothing she wanted more than to be in, with her momma or papa reading her a bedtime story. To have had a brilliant birthday party and to have opened all of her gifts.

There was a loud snapping sound from somewhere nearby. Milly quickly wiped away the tears and looked around. Without further thought, she jumped to her feet and began to flee once again. Running as fast as she could go. She looked behind to see if anyone was following her, only to run straight into something cold and hard.

Milly felt arms go around her and she began to panic. She screamed out bellowed for help. She called for her parents, called for her friends help. She clawed and punched at the person who held her, but they only held her tighter, restraining her movements.

"Let me go!" Milly screamed at the person who clutched her.

"It's alright." a woman's voice said to her. "The bad people aren't here."

"No!" the little girl sobbed. "You're lying!"

A light shone on them, the woman let her go as she turned to face the small group behind them. Milly ran away as fast as she could, through the scary dead woodland. Each tree looking as though they were ready to reach down and grab her. Behind, the all too familiar sounds of gunfire, echoed terrifyingly through the darkness. Soon though she found the hollowed out trunk of a fallen tree. She crawled inside, taking refuge, hugging her legs close to her chest. Her breathing rapid and laboured.

A long time passed before Milly thought about moving again, but just as she was about to crawl out, two legs appeared at the entrance. She froze, not daring to even breath.

Moments later the person sat down, legs crossed. In her hand, the woman held a long, dangerous looking gun. Her clothes were thick brown metal, and she was wearing a large backpack. But the thing that struck Milly the most was her face. The woman was almost bald, her face patched with red, sore looking skin, and her eyes had an odd dark ring around them. The woman looked like she was I'll.

"I took care of them." the woman said. "No need to be frightened now."

Milly slinked back, as far as she could go before it the trunk got too narrow for her to proceed any further. "Go away!" she shouted.

The woman put the gun to the side. "I'm going to stay here, and we're going to talk."

Milly put her hands over her ears, so she couldn't hear. The outsider wasn't going to be able to tell her lies is she couldn't hear them. The woman simply sat there and waited. Before long, Milly's arms got tired, she rested them reluctantly by her side.

"I'm going to start by telling you my name." the woman told her. "It's LeBethany, or just Beth." LeBethany smiled at her. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Not telling!" Milly said adamantly.

"Well, no matter then." the woman said to her. "We'll just have to find something else to talk about."

Milly folded her arms in defiance. Her demeanour of non-compliance was quickly ruined, when her stomach growled loudly. Her hands shot down over it as if to try and keep the sound from escaping. It was too late, however. The woman had clearly heard it.

"Hungry?" LeBethany asked.

"No."

"I heard your stomach calling out for some food."

"It was nothing."

LeBethany took her bag off and placed it in front of her. She opened a zip and pulled out a small box. She held it out to her.

"Don't want it!" Milly said, folding her arms once more.

"It's something I prepared earlier. Not as nice as what you're used to, but it'll keep you from being hungry."

Milly's stomach rumbled again. It had been forever since she had last eaten anything and she was very hungry. Like a flash she reached forward and grabbed the small container box, opening it to see some odd vile looking fruit and cooked meat inside. She poked at the fruit, half in disgust, half in curiosity.

"It's a fruit that I found growing to the east of here." the woman told her. "It's edible, and not too bad tasting. I think they might have actually been some kind of grape at one point, though what they are now, I have no idea."

Milly picked it up and took a small bite out of it. The taste wasn't too bad, it was sweet with a bit of an apple taste to it. The texture however, was lumpy and inconsistent, being horribly squelchy and hard and crunchy all in one mouthful.

Too afraid to spit it out in case the woman took offence, Milly continued to eat it.

"Not too bad is it?" LeBethany asked her. "So are you going to tell me your name?"

"Milly." she told the woman, after she finished eating the weird fruit.

"That's a nice name." LeBethany said with a warm smile. "Did I tell you my name?"

"Beth."

"That's right." the woman shuffled backwards, away from the entrance of the hollow trunk. "Are you going to come out of there?" she asked.

Milly nodded slowly.

"I just ask you don't run off. There's a river around here and the Alligators are quite deadly." LeBethany looked off to the left. "Heck, they were deadly before the radiation turned them into mouths with legs."

Milly didn't like the sound of that. "Will they eat me?"

"Not unless we get too close to their habitat." She held out her hand. "Come on, you'll get stuck in there."

Slowly, but surely. Milly crawled out of the hollow tree trunk, food case in hand. She sat at the entrance and stared at LeBethany, who retracted her held out hand.

"You're a very brave girl." the woman told her. "How old are you?"

"Ten."

"That's a big number."

"It was my birthday."

LeBethany looked like she had been physically struck. Her face full of sadness. "I'm so sorry."

LeBethany held out her arms, offering a hug, a single tear in her eye. Milly moved forward into the woman's arms, her eyes dry, no longer able to weep any more tears. The hug comforted her, and she never wanted to let that feeling go.

"I miss my mama and daddy." she said distraught.

After a few moments pause LeBethany responded. "I miss mine too."

Milly looked up at her. "Did your parents die too?"

"Yes, my mother long ago. My father." She paused. "Still a long time ago, but not as long."

"Are you lonely?"

"Yes, Milly. I'm lonely."

Milly hugged her tighter. "I'm lonely too."

"Not anymore." LeBethany told her. "Not anymore."

A few minutes later Milly was fast asleep, leant against LeBethany's chest, the sun now threatening to poke itself over the horizon. She looked down at the sleeping girl and whispered. "When you awake, we'll go find your friends I saw up in town." She looked to the ever brightening horizon. "You're safe now." she said unheard. "You're safe."


	5. AaDSurvivors Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

The wind blew through the dead, wooden limbed towers that had once been beautiful, living trees. Scott and the Mister Handy Robot, Oliver pushed ever onwards, their destination unknown, their purpose long since destroyed.

The sun had risen and fallen about three or four times, since they had been forced to flee the vault and so far, they had seen very little of anything. Of course there had been the odd small deformed looking creature running around, but he hadn't come across anything big yet, luckily.

He wondered if he would die out here. He had no reason to think or make conclusions on anything, seeing that his data sample was non existent, yet he couldn't help it. Since he had left the vault behind, his mind had conjured up the worst scenarios for what they might find on their trek north to nowhere.

"Sir." Oliver began, breaking the silence that had befallen them for an unknown number of hours. "We have been travelling for days and as of yet, you have failed to tell me our destination."

"We don't have a destination." Scott replied, his voice weak, tired.

"It is foolish to not have a destination. How are you supposed to arrive if you have nowhere to arrive to?"

Scott clenched his jaw. Since leaving the vault, Oliver had become more and more like an automaton. While he hadn't been particularly clever before, now it seemed that he had blown a tube or something. This was the third time he had asked about their destination and the third time had explained why they didn't have one, even going into depth of their situation of how they had no prospects, no hopes for the future. Yet Oliver didn't get it. It was as if he was no longer capable of understanding as if his intelligence was somehow tied to the vault. But then again he would still have moments of clarity, where he seemed almost human. He had pondered asking him about it, but the thought made him uncomfortable, so he held back. At least for now. Without another word, they pushed onwards. Their destination as it had been thus far, unknown.

"Excuse me, sir." Oliver said breaking the brief silence.

"What, Oliver?" Scott asked as he climbed over a fallen tree.

"That billboard over there appears to have the words 'Safe' scrawled upon it."

Scott looked over at the large billboard that loomed in the distance. Sure enough it did have the words safe written on it with an arrow pointing to a hill that lay on the horizon. He suddenly felt a surge, a jolt of hope go through him, powerful enough that his fatigue seemed to dissipate. "It points to that hill over there. Think we should take a gander?"

"If you think we should sir, I'm just here for your amusement."

One thing Scott had noticed was how Oliver had become increasingly sarcastic. In some ways it annoyed him, but in others it comforted him. It made him feel as though he wasn't out here alone with a malfunctioning ex-vault overseer robot. Without another word he headed off in the direction the arrow had pointed, his metallic friend close behind.

It wasn't long till they were climbing the hill, Scott panted heavily as the terrain became increasingly steep. "I tell you what Oliver, I'm not used to these hills. I can feel every stone through these boots, they certainly weren't made for out here."

"The terrain isn't giving me any trouble." Oliver retorted.

Scott couldn't help but smile. "Yer floatin' on jets. So of course the terrain ain't giving ya no trouble."

"Then I suppose my method of travel is superior."

Scott laughed. "I guess it does mean that, Oliver." His laugh soon turned into a cry as he kicked a tree root with his foot. He tumbled forward into the dry dirt reaching for his foot with his hands. "Ow, dammit!" he cried out. He removed his boot slowly and carefully, checking his toes to see if any were broken. They didn't seem to be, but it still hurt like hell. He looked over at his robotic friend, who seemed neither sympathetic nor concerned. "I'm alright, Oliver. No need to worry yourself."

"Sir, what is it you are doing?" Oliver asked him, seemingly bewildered by the display of physical pain in front of him.

"I kicked something and it really hurt." Scott slowly climbed to his feet, placing his boot back on his foot. "You've been Overseer of a vault for two-hundred years, and you're tellin' me that you never seen someone hurt themselves?"

"Yes of course sir. Humans do seem to do that a lot."

Scott decided not to respond, as he pulled himself back to his feet and began to move forwards, limping slightly. They made their way to the top of the hill. Upon reaching it, Scott saw a building in the distance. An odd looking building, yet familiar. Both of them headed onwards, Scott with his revolver drawn, ready for anything or anyone to emerge from the structure. As they circled around its perimeter it became apparent that no one was there. However painted in large letters on the front of the structure was the word 'safe', just as there had been on that billboard.

With weary curiosity, Scott entered a large opening that lead into the spacious building. Inside there were two floors. The upper floor wrapped around the sides leaving a large space in the middle. There was also an opening at the other end of where the entrance lay on the upper level. That's when he realised why he had found the structure oddly familiar. It was a barn. He had seen them in the old cowboy holo-vids back when he was growing up in the vault. Though if this was a barn, where was the farmhouse? He stepped outside and looked around. There didn't seem to be one around. Though a large debris pile he saw, a hundred odd feet away could be what was left of the farmhouse.

He turned back around, facing into the barn. Looking around at its structural stability. It seemed secure, there wasn't much creaking and the roof was pretty much intact. One thing he did notice was the only way to reach the upper floor was a pair of ladders. He would probably have to go up there to see if there was anything useful. It would do well as a shelter, at least for now. He turned to his companion who was hovering beside him.

"What is it, sir?" the robot asked as if anticipating a question.

"See anything useful?"

"There is a large structure that can be used for shelter."

"You mean the barn?" Scott asked bemused. "We're standing in it. Do you see anything else?"

"I see plenty of firewood."

"You mean the house rubble over there?"

"The barn, sir."

Scott felt his jaw clench. "I don't know if yer tryin' to be funny Oliver, or sufferin' from a malfunction. Can ya stop it please, you're annoyin' and I can't deal with that right now."

"Yes, sir."

Scott headed over to the ladder. "I'm checking up here. Can you stay there and tell me if you see anyone other than me?"

"Yes, sir."

Scott climbed the ladder, noticing as he reached the top that there were several small metal crates near the large window like opening. He made his way over to them, opening one to see what was inside. To his surprise and delight he found food, meat mostly, and water as well as some stimpaks and a load of bottle-caps. "Well apart from these bottle-tops, this crate is jammed with stuff I need."

"Perhaps you could make a bottle-cap necklace out of them, sir."

"Cute, but why would someone waste space with junk?"

"Perhaps they hold some unforeseen value?"

"I have no idea, Oliver." Scott responded as he sniffed some of the food. The meat was thin and dry with the distinct smell of spices. It didn't have the odour of bad meat, nor did it appear as though it had been here for any length of time. Was someone nearby? Were _people _nearby. If he pushed onwards then maybe he would find them. Maybe even find civilization. He quickly pushed the thought out of his mind, false hopes were easily crushed. It was better if he simply expected the worst. Then he couldn't be disappointed when there was no one.

Scott stood next to the opening and stared out at the forest of dead trees. As the cold wind blew softly, he felt a strange sensation roll over him. A feeling of tranquillity unlike any he had ever felt. Everything looked so dead, yet somehow the world just felt so _alive_.

He suddenly felt tired. The fatigue of the last few days finally caught up to him. He had barely gotten any sleep since he had been cast, so violently out of the vault three or so days ago. The trouble was he was afraid to sleep. Afraid that he'd wake up with some creatures head buried in his stomach while it ate his guts out. He sat down heavily leaning against the wall, with his legs splayed out in front of him. He could fall asleep at any moment, he wanted to fall asleep. But fear still crept into the back of his mind, a deep fear of the openness that surrounded him. A fear of the lack of barriers between him, and any would-be killer. Be it man or beast.

He looked across the floor after placing the meat back into the container. His apatite non existent. The wood was dull, blasted by dirt and weather. Something caught his eye. In the corner lay a magazine with a picture on it. He pushed himself to his feet, making his way over to it. He picked it up and stared at the cover. The image was that of the Capitol Building in Washington. An image that every American should know, whether they were born in a vault or not. Suddenly his mind cleared and for the first time he knew where he must go. If there was one place in the United States Commonwealth of America that could have been well enough defended against the nuclear proliferation, it would be the nation capital. He had no idea which direction it was, or how he could possibly get there, but he had to at the very least _try_.

His thoughts were interrupted as his stomach growled loudly. It was strange. He had stopped feeling hungry sometime yesterday, his stomach having grown numb from the dull ache that he had grown oddly accustomed to. He quickly reached back into the crate and pulled out the meat and sniffed it once again. For a moment he wondered how to tell if it was any good to eat when he remembered his Pipboy. He looked down at it before bringing it up over the meant. It'd tell him the benefits. He looked under the 'Aid' tab and saw it listed there as 'Beef Jerky' He had no idea what that was, but it had almost no negative effects save for a few rads. That was expected though, out here everything was above normal in terms of radiation. He went to take a bite, discovering that it was tough. He tore at it with his teeth, pulling a bit off. Just as he had smelt earlier, the meat was definitely covered in some kind of spice, probably to help ward off bacteria.

After finishing up all he could manage, he asked Oliver to keep watch and laid down on the wooden floor. He was exhausted, so much so that he was starting to not care if something killed him in his sleep. It would sure be better than living through this hell.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Scott eventually drifted off to sleep, the sounds of the breeze blowing softly through the cracks in the barn wall.

* * *

Scott was awakened hours later by the sound of Oliver's hollow tin voice speaking in a rather loud and blunt fashion.

Scott peered out to where the voice was coming from "What is it?"

"There are multiple things headed towards the building, sir." Oliver reported.

Scott looked out into the blackness that had befallen the wasteland, making it too dark for him to see what it was that Oliver could see. Or was it? In the distance he could just make out what looked like shadows heading towards them.

"Sir, I believe they may be hostile."

"Prepare to light them up with yer flamer, Oliver."

"Yes sir."

Scott checked his revolver. As of right now, he only had eighteen bullets. He'd better make them count.

As the shadows grew closer he saw that the figures were human. "Who are you!?" he yelled. In return he got strange inhuman guttural growls and snarls. "Stay back or we'll be forced to hurt you!"

They continued their running approach. There appeared to be at least two dozen, maybe more. He just couldn't tell in the darkness.

Scott looked down at Oliver who was hovering outside the barn beneath him. "When they're in range hit them with your flamer!"

He hated the thought of hurting people, but their snarls clearly weren't normal. It sounded like they had gone mad.

As the first few got into range, Oliver sprayed them with a gout of fire. Five of them collapsed to the ground in flames, the light given off by the burning embers rendering the others that followed aglow. It became very apparent very quickly that these were no longer human. Their skin looked melted, their flesh diseased, grotesque. They stared at the burning corpses of their comrades and backed off for just a moment, before they jumped at Oliver.

The robot fired a jet of fire at them, but they persevered with their attack, not caring that the flames burned them. Oliver continued spraying the area in front of him with his flamer, while Scott took aim with his gun.

Suddenly part of the frame of the large opening in which he was looking out of splintered as something struck it. Then something whizzed past him, so close he thought he could feel the heat off of it. He threw himself behind down behind the barn wall. Someone was shooting at him.

He heard the sounds of flesh striking metal through the howls of pain and the blasts of his robot companion's flamer. He had to do something, he couldn't risk Oliver being hurt. He climbed down the ladder in the darkness and made his way out of the barn and around the side. He saw the creatures swinging wildly at his friend, not caring that their flesh was burning off from the fire.

Scott raised his gun and pulled the trigger. The gun fired with a hefty punch, his bullet striking one of the creatures in the gut

That's when he heard the nightmarish distorted voice echo in the night. "Kill them!" It howled from somewhere nearby. "Destroy the machine, then tear off his flesh!"

It was like something from his worst nightmare! He didn't have time to think, he had to just do. He fire off five more shots. Just as he was about to reload, he was struck in the left shoulder by a bullet, that knocked him to the dirt. Another shot splintered wood only feet from his head.

"I'm gonna die here!" Scott sobbed as he tried to crawl his way out of the gunman's line of sight. Oliver kept flaming at the creatures, but their swipes were causing damage. One of his three sensors had been smashed, it's arm hanging useless.

So far, his only interaction with anyone other than Oliver or Peter, had been them trying to kill him. It appeared that no one out here cared about another's life. It seemed all that were out here only cared to kill, to murder.

Scott wondered if this would be his life from now on? To fear the constant threat of death? Not only from the scarce nature that was left behind, but from the folk who resided within it.

"You cannot hide from me!" the thing yelled from afar. "You'll die and I'll eat your flesh!"

Scott saw a muzzle flash in the distance only moments before more wood splintered inches above his head. Scott quickly reloaded his revolver, before he blind fired in the direction of the shooter. He had used up six more bullets in only a few mere moments. With only six left, he knew there was nothing he could do, there was nothing he could even hope to do.

"Not even close!" the shooter mocked. It then responded with a bullet in Scott's right leg.

The pain was unbelievable and the amount of blood he was loosing between the two wounds was incredible. He would die, this is how it would end. He loaded the last six bullets as he lay there in the dirt. He found his thoughts returning to Peter. How he had died quickly. The thought back to his family, the ones in the vault. He had left them all behind without being absolutely sure they were all dead. He had abandoned them to the killers that had burst forth into their home and slaughtered them. He had run away with Peter, only to have him die and to leave him alone with a half broken machine that was only a facsimile of a person.

Scott looked up to see feet beside him. He looked at the face of the person who now stood beside him, only to find it wasn't a person at all. It's face was like that of the creatures, but not quite as rotten looking. This one still had the vestiges of humanity in its eyes, but barely. The ghoulish looking person was holding a scoped rifle, its expression one of glee and triumph.

With one last effort, Scott raised his gun and pointed it at the things chest and pulled the trigger. Then the darkness claimed him.


	6. AaDSurvivors Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

Scott felt a dull ache in his left shoulder and right leg. He had regained consciousness, but kept his eyes closed. He feared what he might find if he opened them. So he lay there, his eyes tightly closed hoping that somehow, Oliver had saved him from the creatures.

He heard someone start talking. It was a female voice, and it sounded like she was having a conversation with someone. The other person responded, but their voice was much quieter, almost inaudible.

He felt his leg to find a bandage over it. Someone had apparently seen to his leg wound. He grasped his shoulder to find the same thing. He then reached for his face to find his glasses were gone.

Scott opened one blurry eye, to see a mostly bald woman crouched down, talking to a child. At least he assumed it was a child, he couldn't quite make the person out.

The bald woman appeared to be in her early twenties, though he couldn't quite tell that either. One thing he could definitely tell was that she was wearing brown pre-war military combat armour, and had a nasty looking double barrelled shotgun on her back.

They were in some kind of building. Judging by the shelves with stuff on them, they were in an old store of some kind. Scott felt fear begin to well up inside him. So far no one out here had been friendly and he feared the worse. He looked around quickly, while remaining laid on the ground. He saw Oliver powered down nearby.

His robotic friend had taken a nasty beating. Two of his eye struts were smashed, laying awkwardly on the floor beside him, his shell was dented, one of his pincer arms had been smashed off as well as his flamer. Him being powered down was the biggest fear. Was he dead?

Scott began to move slowly, getting to his feet. He didn't want to remain here. Who knows what the two had in store for him.

"He's awake!" the child yelled.

He felt for his gun, to find it wasn't there. With no way out he stood there head down, awaiting the inevitable.

After a moment he looked up to find he knew the child. "Milly?" he asked in shock.

The stranger that was with her responded. "I found her." She said. "The same night I saved you and your friend in town."

Scott looked at the woman. She looked strange. Her cheeks were red and around her eyes looked dark, bruised. Her skin looked dry, yet she still looked youthful.

"What d'ya mean after you saved me in town?"

She walked up to him, he tensed up. She halted and backed off slightly before speaking. "That burning house you were in. I killed those outside."

It took a moment for Scott to realise what she was saying. "Wait, yer the one who killed the two folks outside my ancestors house?"

"Yes." she said simply. "I wish I could have saved your other friend."

"Why didn't ya show yourself?" he questioned.

"I wanted too, but feared your reaction. I decided to head back towards the vault instead. Look to see if there were any more survivors."

Milly hugged at the woman's legs. "She saved me."

The old store seemed to start spinning, but it was Scott's head. He couldn't quite believe that Milly had escaped. He feared it was all a dream and that he'd wake up alone in a pool of his own blood. "How?" was all he managed to ask.

Milly looked down at the floor. "Sarah was showing me the reactor as a birthday present. When the wall exploded, she stuffed me in a cupboard." Milly hugged the woman's legs tighter. She placed her hand on the child's shoulder in support. "I heard the gunshots, they killed her. I stayed there forever. When I got the courage I headed out of the reactor room into the upper level. The bad people were everywhere. One of them saw me and I ran. I ran out of the hole they made, out into the outside. It was dark"

The woman finished off. "I found her wondering outside. I realised that she was most likely the only other survivor. We headed back to town to try and find you, but you weren't there. I feared you'd gone north and would fall into Granger's trap."

Scott stared at her. "Granger?"

"He's a ghoul. Has an army of ferals. Leads people to his barn and kills them. Used to own the farm that was there, but now." She chuckled to herself. "Now he doesn't do anything. I managed to get there just in time. Your robot friend managed to deal with most of the ferals, and I dealt with Granger before he blew your head off."

Scott looked over at the powered down Oliver. "What happened?"

Combat inhibitor was hit. Went berserk. I had to shoot off his flamer arm to get close enough to power him off."

Scott moved over to him. "Is he dead?"

"No, just powered down."

"Can he be fixed?"

"If I can't, then I'll just have to remove his combat program completely, make him a pacifist."

Scott looked at her. "You can do that?"

"Not here." the woman told him. "There's an old military place nearby. I got my combat armour from there. I can repair or reprogram your friend using the facilities."

Scott felt a little more at ease. "Thanks." he said, before adding. "What do I call ya?"

"You can call me friend." she responded with a warm smile.

"No, I mean what is your name?"

"LeBethany." she told him. "My name is LeBethany, and your life has just gotten better. Even if it's just a little." She walked over to the nearby counter and picked something up. She stepped over to Scott and handed him his glasses. "Here."

"Thank you Ms LeBethany." he said as he took them off her and put them on. Scott then looked down at Milly. She had survived, he had survived, Oliver had survived, even if right now he was a little worse for wear.

Milly ran up to Scott and gave him a hug. He hugged her back, a huge smile spreading across his face. Perhaps things were better now.

LeBethany took off her shotgun and placed it down on the counter, next to the old currency till. "We'll set off in a few minutes, if you're feeling up to it?"

Scott nodded. "I am." Truthfully, he wasn't sure he was feeling up to anything. But Oliver needed his help and he'd be damned if he didn't do everything in his power to help him.

She checked over the gun, loading two shells into it before placing it back in the large self made holster on her back. "When we get there, we'll have to find you a new weapon of some kind."

She then reached behind the counter and picked up a large rucksack, putting it on, sandwiching the shotgun between it and her back.

Scott observed her for a moment. "Won't it be difficult to get your gun out like that?" he asked.

In a moment the shotgun was in her hands. "Nope." she said, clearly having no trouble drawing the huge, long barrelled gun. She re-holstered it before she pointed to the door. "Should we go?" she asked before looking down at Oliver. "I've jury rigged his jet so it'll function when he's shut down." She moved over to him, and after pressing something, he began to hover. Still clearly shut down. She picked up a loose piece of rope and tied it too his remaining arm and passed the other end to Milly.

"Think you can pull the robot along?"

Milly nodded. "I'll keep Overseer Oliver safe." she said bravely.

The three of them left the store, with Oliver being towed along behind.

* * *

A couple of hours had passed by the time they reached the derelict military outpost. They entered through the main doors, into the poorly lit foyer area. To Scott, it looked like the old office buildings he had seen on the old holo-vids back in the vault. It looked nothing like a military complex, not at all.

LeBethany turned to them. "We're going to have to be quiet, and whatever you do, stay out of the basement."

"Why?" Scott asked. "What's down there?"

"Sentry bots. Up here, we've only got a few degraded Mister Gutsy's."

Scott looked back at Oliver, who Milly was pulling along with them. "Yer mean the military version of him?" he said indicating his robot friend.

"Yes." She confirmed. "They tend to patrol the upper floors."

Scott looked down at Milly, who looked scared. He walked over to her and squatted down, putting himself at eye level. "You okay?" he asked.

"I don't like this place."

LeBethany turned to the two of them. "We're only here to fix Oliver and get some armour for Scott." She peered down a corridor off of the main foyer. "I may even see if we can find anything for Milly to wear. That vault outfit won't do much against bullets."

Scott stood up and turned to her. "Yer sayin' we're gonna get shot at again."

"Probably, lot of bad people out there who want what you have." she explained. She began to make her way down the corridor to the left. "Come on, this way."

They followed, with Oliver in tow. Before long they were in a room full of computers, and robot repair stations. LeBethany took the rope off of Milly and pulled Oliver along into the repair port, the door slid shut around him.

LeBethany stepped over to a computer terminal, then looked across at them. "These repair ports are designed for Mister Gutsy's." she said. "It may take a few hours, but I think I can reprogram it to work for a Mister Handy. All I need to do is perform a full diagnostic on all of his installed systems."

She took off her backpack and her shotgun and put them on the side. She then began to type away at the console. Scott turned to Milly, making sure LeBethany couldn't hear them.

"What is it?" Milly asked.

"How much do you trust her?" he questioned. "Why is she even helping Oliver? He means nothing to her. So why help him?"

Milly looked across at the woman who typed away at the keypad. "When you were sleeping, I said that I wanted her to fix him."

Scott looked across at the repair station that Oliver was now encased in. "And she agreed, just like that."

"No." the little girl said. "She said it would be hard to make him better, but I asked until she said yes."

Scott saw a chair and went over to it, sitting down on it with a sigh. Milly walked over to him and jumped on his knee. He let out a gasp at the unexpected weight.

"Aren't you a bit old to be doing that?" he asked her, wishing she would get off. Being ten, she wasn't light, and he wasn't sat on the chair quite right, making her seem all that much heavier.

"Are you gonna to tell me a story to pass the time?" Milly asked expectantly.

"Don't know any."

"Not any?" the girl asked unconvinced. "Yer tellin' fibs."

"Fine, just get off me so I can get more comfortable."

Milly jumped off of him and he sat on the chair properly. She then jumped back on his knee.

"Oof!" he exclaimed. How did anyone tolerate kids jumping on them. It was really annoying.

"Are you gonna tell me that story now?"

Scott really didn't want to tell a story. But she was a good kid, and had been through a lot. They both had. He tried to think back to his youth. What stories had he been told when he was growing up? And was Milly too old for them? He had absolutely no way of gauging what was appropriate. It had been seventeen years since he was ten. He didn't even remember what he, himself liked when he was that age.

He looked down into Milly's eyes. "What would you like to hear?"

"A story I've never heard before."

He thought for a moment. He had no Idea what she had or hadn't heard. He'd have to make something up on the spot, and he was no good at that.

He cleared his throat and began. "Once upon a time, there were these four travellers. A man, a woman, a little girl and a robot."

"That's us." Milly interrupted. "Are we the stars of this story?"

"Maybe." he answered. "Anyhow, these four travellers were lost, with no place to go. But there was but one place in all the world that survived. The place where the President had lived to the north. For that place was protected, had to be protected as it was one of the most important cities in the United States."

"Is this place real?" the little girl questioned with curiosity.

"Maybe it is." he told her. "Now, this place was important, and a nation as advance as ours would have some way of protecting it."

He heard a grunt come across from LeBethany. He looked up to see her looking at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"You're clutching at nothing." she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Washington's a wasteland like every other city out there."

Scott felt annoyance well up inside him. How did she know what the nation's capital was like. "Have you been there?" he questioned.

"No, but there wasn't any secret anti-nuke weapon that saved the day." she turned back to the computer. "The nation burned, get used to it."

He looked back down at the little girl on his lap. "Looks like my story's been shot down."

"It was rubbish anyway." Milly replied honestly.

Scott chuckled, his previous annoyance faded away. "Ya found me out."

"Do you have any good stories?"

Scott lightly pressed her little button nose. "Maybe you should tell me a story."

"Okay, and it will be the best story ever!"

"I'm sure it will be."

* * *

LeBethany didn't hear much of the story Milly told, she was too busy trying to figure out how to get the repair program to fix the Mister Handy robot and not completely mess him up because it thought he was a Gutsy instead.

She kept on making the necessary changes, but the system kept having mini crashes, which reset the system to default. Another thing was the way the robot's brain was set up. It had a much higher capacity than other Mister Handies she had repaired long ago, back when she was with her father. It made sense as the robot was a vault Overseer, and people wouldn't follow orders from a really stupid robot. But that capacity was greatly reduced from what it once had been. A few processors had stopped working, and it looked like another was on it's way out. She wouldn't be surprised if she asked Scott if the robot was acting strangely, that he would confirm it.

It could be easily fixed, and even made better, if only she could get the system to be stable long enough to program in a repair protocol unique to this particular robot.

After the system crashed for the eighth time she stood up in exasperation. She walked over to one of the large computers next to the repair station, and began to try and pry the panel off.

"What are ya doing?" She heard Scott say from behind her.

She turned back to him. "The system's fucked."

Milly covered her ears, Scott frowned. "No need fer that language." he chided.

She felt her face go red. She was so used to speaking her mind that she forgot that others might find her words upsetting. "Sorry, I meant that it isn't working properly." she corrected.

"Need help getting' that off?"

"Yeah, sure."

Milly climbed off of Scott's knee as he walked over to her, gripping the other edge of the panel, which LeBethany was trying to prise off. With a hefty tug, the panel came off. Revealing the decrepit wiring and electronics inside.

"Shit!" she exclaimed angrily.

Scott sighed. "You were doin' so well earlier on. What happened to yer language?"

"Sorry." she apologised again. "It happens when I get angry."

Scott looked into the machine. "What's up with it?"

"It's old and breaking down." She told him. "Might be easier to simply look for a busted Gutsy around here. To fix that up and swap the brains. I'd have to then simply tell the system to replace all and only the processors. Hopefully with good ones."

Scott looked at the repair station. "What's wrong with his processors?"

"Half of them are busted, and more are on the way out. Looks like some went fairly recently too."

"So he's dying?"

"In a way, yeah. But we can fix him." She moved away from the open computer. "You stay here, while I go Gutsy hunting. I shot one down last time I was here. With luck, it's still where I left it."

She picked up her shotgun and made her way out of the room. The dead Gutsy was on the upper floor, so that's where she'd need to go.

Slowly, but surely. She climbed the stairs, listening for the sounds of engine jets that the 'Mister' line of robots all had for propulsion. All she needed to do was enter the office at the far side of the hallway at the top of the stairwell, and she'd find the robot she had shot down.

LeBethany didn't want to be doing this. She didn't care about the stupid robot downstairs, but the two vault dwellers obviously did, and little Milly had begged her to help him. Truth was, she didn't want to be alone again, and the best way to get them to like her, perhaps even trust her, was for her to fix their robot.

The door at the end of the hallway creaked as she pushed it open. As she stepped inside, LeBethany saw the Gutsy still laying there on the floor, where her shotgun had put it. With a hefty tug, she pulled the heavy robot out of the room, down the corridor to the top of the stairs.

It was clear that she hadn't thought this through. Dragging a robot down a corridor was one thing, getting it down a flight of stairs was quite another. Especially when there were probably still Gutsies up here, and making too much noise would definitely attract them.

Judging by the relative silence that surrounded her, she wasn't even sure there were even any more here. While it was an absolute certainty that there were sentry robots in the basement, having locked them in behind a reinforced door herself. There was a chance that the Gutsy she shot down all those weeks ago was the last one up here.

Getting Scott to help her would be simple, but she no longer had the patience. "Here goes nothing." she said under her breath, as she got behind the robot. With a quick push, the hunk of metal and limbs sailed down the stairs, clattering loudly as it bounced around wildly. It came to a rest at the bottom, silence ensued. There wasn't a peep from anyone. Not until Scott appeared at the bottom of the stairs that is.

"What happened!?" he asked, an almost frantic urgency in his voice. "Have yer been attacked!?"

"No, not yet." LeBethany answered as she made her way down the stairs to the bottom. "Just getting the robot corpse down the stairs."

Scott looked down at it. "Did ya throw it down or somethin'?"

"Yes." she said truthfully as she reached down for it. "Now you're here, perhaps you could help me carry it to the repair area."

Scott reached down and they both picked it up, carrying it over to the repair centre. Soon they had pulled Oliver out of the repair station and placed the Gutsy inside. LeBethany ran a diagnostic before letting out a rather exasperated sigh. The system didn't have the means to repair the Gutsy, which left two options. Either they excepted Oliver was busted, or she used the parts from the Gutsy to try and fix him with them by hand.

"Is everything okay Ms Beth?" Milly asked.

"No." she told them. "The system doesn't have all the parts, or the ability. So it looks like I'm going to have to do it by hand."

Scott understood. "Yer gonna perform an operation on him?"

"Kind of." Her luck may run out. She had hit a wall. She couldn't just leave their friend, but she couldn't risk trying to replace the processors, and accidently finishing him off. It wasn't apparent to her just how much the robot meant to them, but it's death wasn't something she wanted on her plate. Especially when they might blame her for it.

"You okay?" Milly asked again. "Is Mr Oliver going to die?" she asked, a little fear creeping into her voice.

LeBethany didn't know how to respond. All Oliver really needed doing to him, was a replacement combat inhibitor, a replacement of his smashed eye-arms, which she could get off of the Gutsy. A new flamer and pincer arm, and every single one of his processors replacing. The first was fairly easy. She could just take the one off of the Gutsy she had brought from upstairs. The second was the tricky one. It could literally mean the death of the robot if done wrong.

"I can replace the combat inhibitor by hand, but not the processors." she told them finally.

"Couldn't ya at least try?" Scott asked.

"If I did it wrong, It'd kill him."

Milly's bottom lip began to quiver. "So you can't make him well again?"

"I can replace the CI, all his busted arms and reactivate him. But ultimately, no. I can't help him here."

Scott looked down at Oliver, sadness clear in his eyes. "Is there someplace else we can go to help him?"

She bit her lip. Promises were the last thing she should make now, but they both looked on the verge of tears.

She cleared her throat. "Possibly." she said simply.

Scott looked across at her, a new look of hope in his eyes. "What do ya mean by 'possibly'?" he asked.

"There's a place, north of here. An old airfield in North Carolina. There's people there that might be able to help us."

Scott stood up tall. "Then we replace his combat inhibitor and head there."

She nodded in acceptance. "After I fix what I can, we should look for some combat armour for you, and see if we can find something better for Milly to wear."

"Yes, yes." Scott said with a wave of his arm. "Forget about the armour, let's just get Oliver fixed."

It had been a very long time since she had been to that pre-war airfield in North Carolina. She wondered if the people able to help them were still even there. It was a chance they would just have to take.


	7. AaDSurvivors Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

The two and a half hours that it took to fix Oliver's arms and replace his combat inhibitor, were terrifying for Scott and Milly. Once it was all done however, and the robot had sprung back to life, both of them had quite literally started jumping for joy.

That joy however, was soon brought down by Oliver's statement that they were in an unrecognised area of the vault. After a few moments of worry that Oliver had lost part of his memory, it became ever more apparent that he wasn't a well robot. One moment, he would struggle to grasp the simplest things, the next he would be able to make clever, witty remarks.

After searching for some armour for Scott to wear, he decided he rather liked an old pre-war generals outfit, complete with white trench-coat and a wide brim, western looking hat. LeBethany tried to convince him out of it, but he thought he looked like a cowboy or something, dangerous and able to defend himself. In reality he did not. At least not to her. LeBethany thought he looked like bit of an idiot, and when the time came, it'd offer him limited protection against bullets. He had made his mind up however, and she couldn't be bothered to argue the matter.

Milly was another challenge. With absolutely no hope of finding military grade armour for a kid, LeBethany decided the best course of action would be to remove the bullet resistant metal plate pieces off of some combat armour, and try and attach it to her vault suit. In the end, she attached the pieces to a belt they found lying around, and had Milly wear it over her shoulder like a sash. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing.

After searching for ammo for his current gun, Scott eventually found himself a new .44 revolver, and a single shot semi-automatic military grade combat rifle, with a load of ammo for both. He placed the rifle over his back in a scabbard he found, and the revolver replaced his .45, which he disregarded in the drawer he had just found his new handgun in.

They decided to head back to the old store, where they'd stay till morning. Then they would begin their long journey to North Carolina to find the people that could fix Oliver. It would be arduous, as the border was around one-hundred miles away. As long as they could find interstate eighty-five, she knew that all they had to do was follow it north-east, avoid the remains of the city of Charlotte completely, and continue east towards the coast.

It was a simple plan, but LeBethany knew it certainly would not be a simple task. Between them and the old coastal airfield lay raiders, deadly creatures, booby trapped towns, possible starvation. It would be far from easy, her life up till now had taught her that it was rarely ever easy. When it was, it usually came with an unforeseen price.

* * *

The night passed them by with no incident, and before long the four of them were hitting the road, on the perilous journey that lay ahead of them.

Milly held Scott's hand like it was a life jacket, as though if she let go she might be washed away, while Oliver hovered next to them silently. They headed out of the small town, down the old destroyed road that was surrounded by a thick, but very dead forest. It was a perfect place for any number of predators to hide, ready to jump out at any unsuspecting passers by.

LeBethany with her backpack of food, spare ammo and other miscellaneous items, lead the way, shotgun in hand. Knowing that if they continued north, finding the I-eighty-five in roughly just a few days was a certainty, given they walk all day during the daylight. She just hoped she recognised it when they found it. One glance behind her shoulder at Scott and his Pipboy gave her an idea.

She slowed down slightly and allowed him and Milly to catch up. Once they were next to her, she pointed at his Pipboy. "How reliable is the map on that thing?"

He looked down at his left arm, then shrugged. "Not really sure."

"It's just that a decent map would really help us out in finding our way."

"It seems to be mappin' locally as we go. The main map seems to only shows the region we're in and I don't know how to change that."

LeBethany stopped walking, as did everyone else. "Can I get a look at it?" she asked.

Scott held out his arm. "Sure."

She gripped his arm lightly before starting to manipulate the dials on the small computer. After a moment, it was obvious that it didn't have all the functionality she had hoped for. The map for instance, while better than nothing. Was limited in what it was capable of.

She let his arm go and began to walk onwards again, closely followed by the others. "We keep heading north. The Interstate should be obvious as it's a huge multi-lane road with a division in the centre, for what was for the different traffic flow direction." LeBethany turned around and began walking backwards, to better address them. "Also look out for road signs for a place called Athens."

"Is that our first stop?" Scott asked.

"No." LeBethany told them. "We'll be keeping our distance. Large places like that can be trouble, depending on what kind of folks took it over."

Milly slinked slightly behind Scott. "Is there bad people there?" the little girl asked LeBethany.

"I don't know." she responded. "Best not to find out."

Oliver commented pointlessly. "Perhaps one should call the authorities if there are bad people there. Gives the town a bad name."

Scott turned to him. "There are no authorities." he said as a statement of fact. "Not the kind you're thinking about anyway."

"I could call the authorities if you'd like, sir." Oliver suggested.

LeBethany shook her head. "No thanks."

"Well, madam. It appears as though the phone lines in this area are down anyway." the robot informed them.

She chuckled. "No shit."

As soon as she said it, she regretted it. Scott went on a small rant about use of proper language, not using such vile words. Especially in front of a child. She apologized profusely until he appeared satisfied. It would take constant vigilance if she was to hold her tongue and not be so common in front of the vault dwellers. It seemed they lived a far more sheltered life, beyond that of living in an actual fallout shelter.

They continued on for the next several hours, down different roads generally in a northerly direction. As soon as they came across an old abandoned motel, LeBethany informed them that it was a good place to stop for the night.

Neither Scott nor Milly complained. They both seemed more than happy to get off of their feet. After picking a single key from the empty main reception area, Scott complained that they should all probably get different rooms. LeBethany explained to him that for safety reasons, they should all stick together in the same room. That way, they could keep an eye on each other.

Scott finally agreed seeing the logic to it and they all found a two bed room, where they all sat down. Scott on a chair next to a small table, placing the rifle he had in the scabbard on his back upon its top. Milly sat on the side of the bed nearest the bathroom, taking off the armour sash that had been made for her. LeBethany sat on the other bed near the door, taking off her backpack and shotgun, placing them on the floor next to the bed. Oliver simply plonked himself down on the floor.

It had been a long day for all of them, longer for Scott and Milly who weren't used to such a long time on their feet. It was only late afternoon, but they were all tired and wanted a good rest.

The room they were in, while it had seen better days, had faired quite well considering. The mattresses seemed to be adequate, even though on the bed LeBethany sat on had a few springs sticking out. The carpet had stains and bits of junk thrown down on it. LeBethany guessed the place had been protected from any nearby nuclear blasts by the surrounding forests, which would have acted as a diffuser for the shock waves.

She laid on the bed and put her arms behind her head. The ceiling was visibly sagging slightly, not enough to cause her worry but enough for her to notice. She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the other breathing. Smile crept across her face. The two people with her might be strangers, but at least she wasn't alone anymore.

* * *

Scott awoke suddenly. He was still in the chair by the small table and it was now almost pitch black both outside and inside. He switched on his Pipboy light, which stirred LeBethany from her own slumber.

She sat up, looking over at him. "Is everything okay?" she whispered.

He thought for a moment before he nodded. "Fine." he whispered back, trying not to wake Milly.

Scott stared at LeBethany for a few moments, then looked away. He knew almost nothing about her. He wanted to know more, but how to ask? He wasn't very good at small talk, and didn't want to ask to openly about her.

"Well." he whispered.

"Well what?" she quietly said back.

"What's your story?" he asked her.

"My story?" she asked back. "Not sure if there is one."

"Well, where you from?"

She cleared her throat. "California originally. Came to the east coast afterwards with my father, and ended up at the old airfield in North Carolina. Headed south years later."

"Why did ya head south?" he asked, interested in the story of an outsider.

"A project my father had vested interest in."

"How did the project go?"

"I suppose it was a success. Right until he was murdered." she said sombrely

"Oh." Scott said almost silently. "I'm sorry."

"Let's just say, you know first hand the kind of people that killed him."

He pretended to look at his Pipboy, no longer wanting to dredge up the past that had hurt her so much.

She continued anyway. "He was so close to the answer, y'know. But they destroyed everything. It took him years to get as far as he did."

Scott looked up at her confused by the use of years in everything she said. She looked no more than twenty, yet by the time-scales she was using, she couldn't possibly be that young. "How old were you when you left California." he asked her.

She rubbed her eyes. "I don't know, maybe when I was ten, eleven."

"Crossin' the country on foot must have taken ages, mustn't it?" he glanced out of the window. "Months at least"

"I guess, I know we were travelling for a long time. We became nomads in a way. It wasn't just me and dad, there were a few of us."

"And you eventually settled in that airfield?" he asked.

"There were a bunch of pre-war ghouls there, like the man who tried to kill you in the barn. But these guys were nice and took us in. Helped us."

"And how long were you there for?"

"A while."

Scott was silent for a moment. Wondering how to pose his next question. He decided to just go for it. "How old are you?"

"I don't know." she said bluntly. "Old enough to have seen stuff that no one should see."

Scott believed that she was telling the truth, but he also believed that perhaps she was maybe older than him. Maybe in her mid thirties or early forties. If she were, then she definitely looked quite good for her age. Ignoring the sore looking red patches on her face that is. They looked much worse in the dim light of his Pipboy than they had outside in the sun.

He pointed at her. "Do those sores hurt?" he asked.

She held her hands up to her face. "No, but they look a lot better than they did a while back."

"Is it the radiation?"

She smiled. "I guess it is."

Scott rubbed the thick stubble that had formed on his face over the passed few days. He continued asking her questions. "What was your dad researchin'?"

"Ever heard of the F.E.V?" she asked him.

"No." he responded. "Is it some kind of radiation suit?"

She smiled. "No, it stands for Forced Evolutionary Virus, or something like that. He discovered that a company had stolen documentation on it. That was where we went. To research it."

"And what does it do?"

"It mutates cells, tried to make the host more adaptable to the environment. I don't know all the details, but father suggested that it was all around us. That the virus had somehow entered the jet-stream and has been distributed around the globe. He said that's how ghouls exist. Instead of them simply dying of the radiation, it changed them. Their cells have been mutated by the low level amounts of the F.E.V."

"And your father was tryin' to help those afflicted by the ghoulism?"

"He wanted to see how the virus worked. Luckily the information was still there, along with some samples. From what my father told me, if the government had found out they had stolen technology. Well, then we'd not have known the company ever existed, let alone use their research." She sighed heavily. "But it was all destroyed, by evil fuckers who just wanted nothing more in life than to kill."

Scott allowed the curse to slide. He still wasn't comfortable with it, but understood the pain she had suffered, all too well. Everyone here did. Except maybe Oliver that is. He seemed impervious to displaying any kind emotion, except perhaps annoyance and sarcasm.

They heard a clatter from outside. Scott immediately went to the window and peered outside, moving the curtain slightly so he could do so. All he saw was the reflection of his own Pipboy light.

"Get away from the window, and turn that thing off!" LeBethany hissed, climbing out of bed.

Scott moved away from the window as told, and switched off the light on his Pipboy. He grabbed the rifle he had placed onto the table earlier, and checked to see that it was loaded.

Cautiously, Scott saw the dark shadow of LeBethany, move over to the window and peer out into the darkness.

Scott held his breath. He almost dare not know what it was, though after a few seconds he found he couldn't bear not to know. "What do ya see?" he asked her in a whisper.

"Nothing." she replied quietly. "It's so dark outside that its difficult to see anything."

"Maybe just an animal."

"Depending on the animal, that might not be a good thing."

Scott didn't want to know what she meant by that. He knew that he'd been quite lucky so far, when it came to the wildlife. He'd seen relatively few things. From what LeBethany had told him earlier on that day as they walked on the old roads. There were beasts out there that could kill a man with one strike. Creatures that were large, fast, and found bullets more of an annoyance than an actual threat. If such a creature were outside now, it could probably just cave the wall in and get them with very little trouble.

Suddenly there was a deafening bang. Milly awoke with a shout and Oliver shot up, his jet activating, his eyes and arms extended.

"What in the devil was that!?" the robot exclaimed.

LeBethany shouted furiously at him. "What the fuck are you doing!?"

"What? He asked, realising suddenly that his finger was pressed down on the rifles trigger. He let it go, dropping it to the floor, looking across in the darkness in Milly's direction, where the sounds of sobs were clearly audible.

"Go see to her." LeBethany ordered. "I just hope something big, or human isn't out there, because it may just come investigate what the hell that sound was."

Scott quickly made his way over to Milly, where he gave her a tight hug. He told her over and over that everything was okay, even though he knew he had messed up big time. He had been holding the gun with his finger over the trigger. He had not been paying attention, which had caused him to pull it without thinking. Now he may have just put them into unnecessary danger.

"I can't hear anything else." LeBethany said from over by the window. She glanced over at Scott. "Lucky I can hear anything at all." she peered back out of the window "Hopefully it was something we disturbed earlier in the day falling over. Or just a small creature."

Scott slowly let go of Milly as she slowly stopped crying. He held her hand and got her to lay back down, promising that he'd stay by her side for the remainder of the night.

If he could see in the darkness lighten up slightly by the glow of Oliver's eye sensors. He knew he'd be able to see LeBethany glowering at him. He had no training with firearms, knowing he had no clue how he was really supposed to operate them. He wondered if they would be safer, if he didn't have any guns on him. He felt his right hip, the .44 revolver was there in it's holster. He wondered what would have happened if when he hugged Milly to calm her, if it had gone off. Most likely it would have hit him in the leg, but what if it had hit Milly? What if he had injured her, or worse? What if he'd had the rifle pointed in her direction when he had accidentally pulled the trigger, what then?

He sighed heavily. "Sorry, Beth." he apologized. "I'm a damn idiot."

"You could have shot someone." LeBethany said, telling him what he already knew.

"I know." he whispered, a single tear forming in his eye.

LeBethany moved away from the window. "Perhaps tomorrow, we won't continue on." she said.

"What do you mean?" Scott asked her, becoming concerned of what she meant.

"I think that before we continue, I need to teach you how to use a gun. And more importantly how not to use it."

"You mean a full day of learnin' how to shoot?"

"You need more than that, but it'll help."

Scott felt Milly squeeze his hand. "If it makes you not shoot us by accident, then it's a good idea." she said.

"Yes." he said. "If it means we get to our destination without me accidentally shootin' y'all, then I'm in."

He saw LeBethany move in the twilight Oliver's eye sensors gave off. "We should try and get more rest." she told them.

Oliver rested himself back down on the floor, his jet shutting off. "That is a good idea madam. My power cells need to recharge some more."

Scott sat there in the dark as LeBethany climbed back into bed and Oliver's sensors shut down. He had promised Milly he would stay by her side, and he would. Tomorrow would be a new day, and hopefully he would learn the basics of gun safety.

He removed the revolver from its holster and put it in the drawer that lay next to the bed. From there it was less likely to accidentally go off.

Eventually, Scott fell asleep. His form slouched awkwardly against the wall.


	8. AaDSurvivors Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Scott awoke with a terrible pain in both his lower back, and neck. Judging by the light coming in through the window, he guessed he had been sleeping for a few hours. He moved from where he had been sat awkwardly leant against the wall, and tried to stand up. His night of improper posture was awarded, as a sharp pain as it shot right down his spine. He gritted his teeth, taking in a sharp breath.

Milly stirred from where she lay on the bed near him, her eyes opening. An instant later she began to cry, realizing she had not in fact dreamt the events leading up to today, brought up agonizing memories of what had been lost.

Scott tried to comfort her, but deep down he wanted nothing more than to join her. As he held her tight, he felt the pent up emotion of the passed few days catch up with him. He began to sob.

LeBethany had awoken and successfully managed to calm, not only Milly, but Scott down as well, they all stepped outside. All except Oliver that was, who seemed more happy to stay inside and vacuum the room.

After what had happened late last night, LeBethany was determined to give Scott at least some small amount of training using a gun. Today she would attempt to do give him knowledge that would help him not shoot her by accident.

With a row of cans set up on the roof of an old wobbly fence, Scott gripped his rifle tightly and looked down the sight. His targets not more than twenty feet away. With a pull of the trigger, he missed.

LeBethany shook her head with a frown. "Twenty feet and you can't hit the damned things."

Scott was starting to get used to her cussing. Though in truth, he was far from sure if that was a good thing or not. He glanced over at Milly who sat behind them, well out of harms way.

Her eyes were still red from crying earlier, her posture slumped. They had all been through a lot. For a child, who's whole life as a thinking being could be measured in single digits, it was difficult to fully comprehend what it must be like for her.

"Eyes forward!" LeBethany snapped at him. "You can't fire one shot, miss, then take five minutes off."

Scott turned to look at her, his gun accidentally pointing in her direction.

She scowled. "Get your finger away from the fucking trigger, and point it somewhere else."

Scott quickly did as he was told, aiming the rifle in the general direction of the cans. He was beginning to think LeBethany didn't like him much. He couldn't blame her, he had proved so far to be a bit clumsy, especially regarding weapon handling.

He stretched his back to relieve some of the tension in it. Last night he had slept in an awkward position, and now he was paying for it. He reached down and rubbed his leg where a bullet had grazed it only two days ago. It didn't nearly hurt as much as it had when he had awoken to it, but it still gave off a dull ache.

She pointed towards the cans. "Right, aim down the barrel, make sure its in line and shoot."

Once again he aimed it at the first can, ignoring the aches and pains he was suffering. He looked down the iron-sights directly to the centre of his target. He snatched at the trigger firing off a shot. The bullet clipped the side of a can, not the one he had been aiming for, but at least he'd hit something other than the trees.

"I hit it Ms LeBethany!" he exclaimed happily, making sure he moved his finger well away from the trigger before doing anything else.

His mentor simple folded her arms. "You hit a can. But next time squeeze the trigger, you'll actually put a hole in what your aiming at."

He looked at her confused. "I did."

"No, your pulling at it, causing the gun to move off target."

"I don't get it, what yer sayin'?" he said confused.

"When you pulled the trigger, you did it too roughly. Your going slow then yanking the trigger back. Also you pull the trigger back with your first knuckle, not the end of your finger."

"Ya mean my Medial Phalange?" Scott asked using his medical knowledge.

"What?" she responded not understanding his medical term. "Just use the bit of your finger that-" she paused, unsure how to explain. "You see where your nail is?"

"Yes."

"Your finger wants to be touching the trigger around the cuticle, but on the other side. In the middle of the end of your finger, and when you pull the trigger, try and pull it back flat."

"Jeez." Scott said with raised eyebrows. "Ain't nothin' like this in the old movies."

"That's because they're make believe." she told him. "Now lets continue."

"Okay."

Scott lifted the rifle and looked down the sight, making sure that he was gripping the trigger correctly with his finger. LeBethany sighed loudly with annoyance. He moved his finger away from the trigger before looking over at her, his own irritation on the rise.

She stared at him with her arms crossed. "You held the gun right the first time, now you've got the stock half a foot from your shoulder. If you shoot like that you're going to bruise yourself."

He held up the gun again with clenched teeth. Instead of actually helping him, all she seemed to be doing was complaining and moaning at him.

LeBethany started to walk towards him. He released the trigger and glanced over at her, lowering the rifle.

"What now?" he asked, trying to hide his frustration.

"Lift the gun up again." she told him. "But keep your finger away from the trigger, and look down the sight. Keep it like that and don't mind me."

She moved in behind him, pressing her armoured body up against his back. As she reached under his right arm, gripping onto the rifle over his hand, he felt a shiver go down his spine.

"You okay?" she asked, a slight chuckle escaping her lips. "Let me take hold of the gun, so I can show you how to hold it."

He allowed her to grip the gun as she raised it up in front of him, pressing the stock into his shoulder firmly.

"Does that feel secure on your shoulder?" she asked him.

"Erm, yeah." he replied.

"Okay, I want you to take hold of the gun over my hands and help aim it at the first can on the left. Use the sights."

He carefully placed his hands over hers, guiding the barrel of the rifle until it was aimed squarely at the first can on the left.

"Is it on target?" LeBethany asked.

"Yeah." Scott confirmed.

"Let go, slowly."

He let go of the rifle carefully.

"Is it still on target?" she asked.

"Yeah it is."

"Good, now look at my trigger finger and see how I place it on the trigger."

"Okay." Scott watched as she placed the end of her finger onto the trigger.

"I'm going to pull my finger directly backwards. You want to be using all your finger joints." she told him. "If you just hinge from your knuckle, then the gun will tend to go to the left, not so much on a rifle, but on a pistol it'll make a big difference."

"I think I know what yer gettin' at."

"Is it still on target?"

"More or less."

"Now watch my finger. You'll flinch, I understand that. But try and pay attention to my finger."

Scott jumped as the rifle fired. The can on the far left spiralled off of the fence into the dirt below.

"Now, take the rifle and you try."

Scott gripped the rifle as she moved away, back to a safe distance. He lifted it up and firmly held the stock against his shoulder. He aimed down the sights and carefully placed the end of his finger onto the trigger. He pulled it back, straight and firm. The can he was aiming for flew off the fence, the force and loudness of the gun caused him to flinch.

LeBethany clapped from where she stood, satisfied with his progress. "Now lets try it at thirty feet."

"Shouldn't I have more practice at this range?" he asked her.

"If we had unlimited ammo, then sure. Unfortunately I have to give you the crash course version of gun training, which is to say the quick version. And I'm not exactly trained as a tutor so everything I tell you is from my own experience."

Scott slowly moved backwards until LeBethany was happy that the new range to the targets. Once again she told him to take aim, while making sure the stock was secure against his shoulder, and reminding him of how to pull the trigger. He fired, missing the cans.

For a moment he expected another beratement from his tutor. What he got was quite different.

"You're getting there." LeBethany told him. "Just take your time. Remember that the sight may not be a-hundred percent accurate."

"What about gravity?" he asked her, knowing that the bullet would arc downwards.

"Not a problem at this range." she replied. "Depending on the velocity of the bullets. From my own experience a-hundred feet is when you start noticing it with slower velocity, to three-hundred feet with higher."

Scott looked down at his rifle. "And what's this?"

"Higher velocity, it's a good rifle. Now try again."

Scott raised the rifle and peered down the sight once again, lining up the shot as best he could. He held his breath as he pulled the trigger back, the gun firing off a shot, striking the can. He released his finger from the trigger and lowered the rifle.

"Well done." LeBethany congratulated him with a warm smile. "You're getting it, though it takes you far too long to sight your target. Hopefully that'll improve with time."

Scott returned her smile, feeling his confidence rise. While he was still a doctor, and shooting others, perhaps killing them went against everything he believed in, he knew in his heart that there were people out here that would not only kill him without a second thought, but kill young Milly a well. He had to learn how to not only shoot accurately to defend himself and those with him, but also needed to know how not to accidentally shoot his friends also.

With more help and direction from LeBethany, Scott managed to be a little more proficient with both the rifle and the .44 revolver.

An hour later, LeBethany called an end to it as she didn't want to waste too much of their available ammo. With nothing else to do, she asked them if they thought they should continue on their journey north. With a unanimous yes, they gathered all their things and after eating some food, the four of them once again hit the road.

* * *

Three hours or so later, the north-easterly road the four of them had been walking along grew wider and split into a two lane freeway, separated by a dirt divider. Either side of the road was a dead woodland, a sight which was becoming quite the familiar sight to both Scott and Milly, who had lived, up till now, in a grey-walled vault.

The four had said little since leaving the motel. Only the robot Oliver had really commented on things, and that was mostly on the bad condition of the roads, on how the cuts on public spending were clearly going to far.

At some point after passing a junction, the tree-line moved away from the road and became more sparse. It was clear by the increasing number of structures, mainly on the right, that they were near a town.

They continued onwards, the road curving to the north-west. The tree density on both sides of the road once again started to encroach towards the road. Scott thought it must have been a beautiful sight, when the trees were covered in leaves.

His thoughts however started to focus on the dull pain that was in his right leg. He had mostly ignored it, but it had steadily been getting worse the further they went.

Earlier yesterday, when he had changed out of his vault uniform and into the nice chunky pre-war general's outfit he wore now, he had removed the bandages and checked the wound. With some anti-biotics that LeBethny carried with her, he had cleaned it and re-bandaged it around the actual leg.

At the time, LeBethany had told him that both wounds had been relatively minor. But in the case of his leg, the bullet had still flayed his flesh as the bullets had grazed over it. Luckily his shoulder had been not as bad, but it had still scraped his shoulder bone. He remembered back to when it had knocked him to the ground. He had thought it had been so much worse, that he had an actual bullet in his shoulder. While it was much more than a flesh wound, at least he didn't have splintered bone to worry about.

Scott reached down for his leg and gave it a quick rub. The dull ache was starting to pulsate outwards, causing him to grit his teeth.

LeBethany, who was walking beside Milly, looked over at him, noticing his discomfort. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"My leg hurts." he answered.

"Do you want to stop for five minutes?"

"I'm 'fraid if I stop, I won't get goin' again."

She looked to their right for a moment, before turning back to him, slowing her pace slightly. "There's a town to our right, through he trees. But I have no idea as to what kind of people are living there, or if there are people living there at all."

Scott pulled a face. "I Don't wanna risk it."

"Sure?"

"Yeah."

Milly slowed down and got in step with him. "I'll walk with ya." she said with a look of concern on her face.

Scott smiled. "Thanks."

Oliver nearly ran into the back of Scott and Milly as they halted when Lebethany came to an abrupt stop in front of them, drawing her double barrelled shotgun.

Scott reached for his rifle off his back, and clasped it tight in his hands, looking around for whatever it was that had spooked her.

"What's got ya so nervous?" he asked her.

LeBethany kept her sight on the tree line as she responded. "Thought I heard something."

Milly grasped Scott's hand tightly. "What did you hear?"

"Don't know." she whispered. "Just try to be quiet."

They listened intently to the sound of the wind and the creaking limbs of the long dead flora. Whatever it was it no longer seemed to be there.

A masculine voice boomed suddenly from the tree line. "Looky what we got here!?"

They all looked over at a large bearded man as he stepped from behind the trees. He wore old dirty pre-war clothes and in his hand he held an energy weapon of some kind.

Lebethany put herself between the stranger and her new friends, clutching her shotgun tightly.

"A man, his girl, their daughter and their pet robot." He laughed venomously. "Don't y'all be stoppin' here." he warned them. "We don't have much, so you better carry right on along the old bypass."

Non of them bothered to correct the man on the semantics of the relationship the four of them had. Instead, LeBethany decided to put his mind regarding their stay at ease.

"We weren't planning on stopping here." she told him.

"Good, 'cause we gotta whole heap of other arms trained on you. Just keep walkin' along. If yer lucky, those in Athens will put ya down." He laughed loudly.

She turned to Scott and Milly, glancing briefly at Oliver, hoping the robot wouldn't suddenly go berserk. "Lets just go." she said.

Scott nodded. "My leg pain just don't seem so 'portant no more."

They started walking hurriedly, feeling the barrels of the guns trained on their backs.

* * *

After two hours of walking, a pack of dog-sized creatures ran out from the woodland with the aim to kill. They didn't stand up to the combined defence of LeBethany, Scott and Oliver.

LeBethany then told Scott to pick up one of the creatures and carry it over his shoulder. He did so with little protest. She also grabbed another one and they continued onwards.

Scott briefly asked why they were carrying them, and LeBethany simply told him that when they found somewhere to stay for the night, she'd be gutting them nearby and grabbing what meat she could from them and cooking it. Scott went green from the thought, she just laughed at him.

After a few more miles, they came across a broken sign which told them they were getting close to Athens. After heading right off the freeway up an off ramp, they circled the outskirts of the old large pre-war settlement.

None of them knew much about the place, they didn't even know if it were a town or city. Whatever it was, LeBethany had long since decided to avoid entering it, making sure they not only kept their distance, but kept their weapons at the ready.

Around six hours later, as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon, they left Athen's ring road behind and continued north-eastwards.

They passed a small lake on the left that looked to be about five-hundred feet wide and three times as long. On the right they passed a several large depot looking buildings.

As the moon rose high in the dark sky, Milly started to weep quietly. She was tired and wanted somewhere to rest, but LeBethany didn't like the fact that the area was quite built up. The risk of raiders or gangs who would want their stuff, was just too high.

Eventually, once the amount of buildings started to dwindle, they stopped in a deserted single storey pre-war house. But not before LeBethany had checked to see if was empty or had been lived in recently. Satisfied that neither was true, they put Milly to bed, while Scott instructed Oliver to wake them at the first sign of trouble.

LeBethany set up a small campfire in the yard and cooked both the creatures, while Scott stayed inside. Once the meat was how she wanted it, she packaged it up, placing the small boxes into her large backpack.

Soon they were fast asleep fifteen miles south of interstate-85. The interstate would take them easterly through north-west South Carolina into south-west North Carolina. From there they would have to travel to Fayetteville, where not only the tech was, but people who were capable of getting Oliver fully repaired.

Overall, they had over three-hundred miles left to travel. A long distance, especially when two of them had up till recently, not even ventured a mile.


	9. AaDSurvivors Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

The morning came, and after they had eaten more of LeBethany's dwindling supplies, the four set off northwards down the decayed roads.

Today however, LeBethany didn't want it to be as quiet as it had been yesterday. Up till now, she knew barely anything about the two she was travelling with, and today perhaps she could change that.

Around them the woodlands were becoming slightly more patchy, there were a few more open areas, but the dead trees were always there in the distance, like twisted, limbed spires.

She decided to try and turn it into a conversation, trying to break the awkwardness. "Lot of trees around here." she said to them.

Milly, who was walking hand held by Scott looked around. "They're brown and ugly."

Scott agreed. "Brown and dead."

LeBethany smiled. "Yeah, pretty much." Small talk was difficult for her. She had spent a long time now, alone that it felt alien and unnatural. "So, do you mind if I ask you about the vault?"

Scott shrugged. "Why d'ya want to know 'bout that?"

"I'm curious."

Milly looked across at her with a confused expression on her face. "Didn't ya growed up in a vault?" she asked.

The woman shook her head. "No, I never lived in a vault."

Milly's eyes went wide. "How did ya grow up?" she asked. "How did ya make friends n stuff?"

"Well I had friends back in California, in the town where I lived. I grew up with my parents, and we left at some point to find something better."

"Did ya find it Ms Beth?" the little girl asked.

LeBethany's eyes went dark. "No, we never found it."

"So." Scott began. "You talked 'bout your daddy tryin' to find a cure for that flesh rot, or whatever. What about your mama?"

She turned her back to them, and increased her pace slightly. "I don't want to talk about it." she told them bitterly.

"Sorry." Scott apologised. "I didn't mean to make yer upset."

Scott and Milly increased their pace also, to keep up with her. Oliver happily trundled behind them.

"It's nothing." she replied.

Oliver spoke up suddenly, making Scott jump. "Why all the glum faces?"

Scott looked over to him. "Things are pretty bad Oliver."

"Nonsense, we're out here seeing the world, sir. Nothing better than that if I do say so myself."

"I guess."

LeBethany peered around at the robot. "Sure, we're having a blast." she said sarcastically.

"That's the spirit madam."

She shook her head. "Whatever."

After a few more minutes, Scott decided to answer her previous question. "About livin' in a vault." he began. "It's clean, no worries, little disease." he didn't know what else to tell her, without getting too personal.

"Must have been nice." LeBethany said. "Nice thick walls to keep you safe. Not struggling to survive everyday. Knowing everyone around you and them knowing you."

Scott nodded slowly "Yeah."

Milly held Scott's hand tighter. "I miss my mamma and daddy." she said wistfully.

"I'm sorry that you had to experience that." LeBethany told them honestly. "To have to live out here in this." she paused. "Well this shit-hole. It's not fair."

Scott simply nodded.

"Sorry for the bad language, it's just I couldn't think of anything that described it better."

"I guess not." Scott said solemnly.

"Look, we'll get to our destination and we'll fix up your robot." she said optimistically.

Oliver took exception to her description. "Excuse me madam, but I am not some 'robot' I am an advanced Type-I Alpha-Overseer Mister Handy. This unit was programmed to run a vault as long as it operated within normal parameters. I may be experiencing several errors, and a few processors may be malfunctioning, but you cannot call me _his robot_."

"Wow." LeBethany said. "That's the most intelligent thing you've ever said in my presence. Your other processors haven't magically started working again have they?"

"A recent self diagnostic has managed to use two damaged processors to simulate a semi-functioning complete one. It is very patchy and they both shut down when I receive a serious error."

LeBethany was surprised. "You're pretty smart for a Mister Handy."

Scott smiled. "That sounds more like the Mr Oliver I know."

The four of them had been so caught up in their conversation, that they hadn't noticed the mutated bear like creature run from out of the dead woodland. The large creature slammed itself into Oliver hard, causing the the robot to crash to the ground with a heavy metallic clang. LeBethany, almost instantly, had grabbed her shotgun, giving the bear two shots in the face from where she stood around ten feet away.

"Beat up on the robot why don't you!" Oliver said as he lay there. "Now I appear to be stuck."

LeBethany turned to Scott who appeared to have frozen in place. "Get your rifle, and shoot the damned thing!"

As the bear turned to face her, she quickly loaded two more shots. Scott fumbled for his rifle, accidentally shooting into the air. The bear turned to the source of the loud noise, giving LeBethany enough time to take aim, shooting it again. It swung itself back around to her, and began to charge.

Scott took aim as best he could and pulled the trigger. He hit it in the gut and it spun around once again, ignoring it's previous target.

LeBethany loaded another shell into her shotgun and took aim, only to see Scott grab Milly in his arms and flee down the road as fast as he could.

The bear began to pursue, but she fired both barrels into it's back legs. It halted with a howl and turned awkwardly around to face her, while she reloaded as fast as she could.

She aimed once again and fired, the creature collapsed and slid along the floor, finally coming to a halt only a few feet from her.

"Fucking hell!" she exclaimed before looking over at the fallen robot.

LeBethany quickly ran over to it and lifted him up. Soon Oliver's jet ignited and he was hovering on his own. She looked down the road to see no sign of Scott or Milly.

"Fuck!" she yelled.

* * *

Scott had ran with Milly in his arms into the first standing building he had found. The little girl had struck him repeatedly as he ran holding her, begging him to go back and save Oliver and Beth. He had continued on, fearful that it they stopped they would die. She eventually stopped hitting him, and simply started weeping.

He looked around the building they found themselves in. It appeared to be someone's house, at least it had been long ago.

Scott put her down on the ground and she began to cry. Shouting at him, telling him that he had let the monster kill their friends.

He sat down on a nearby chair and held his head in his hands. He had messed up big time, and he knew it. LeBethany and Oliver were probably dead and it was his fault. Instead of standing firm and defending them he had fled.

He took the old wide brim hat off of his head and threw it to the wooden floor. When he had picked the outfit, he had thought that he was brave, that he had faced demons and survived. Now he had proved to himself that he was nothing but a coward.

Scott rose up from where he sat and made his way over to the front door. He peered out down the road to see LeBethany and Oliver walking up it. He receded back in fright.

While he was overjoyed to see that they were alive, he was afraid of what LeBethany would do if she saw him. He had fled, essentially leaving her to be killed. He felt guilt, he felt shame.

He took his glasses off and looked down at them. Their thick black rims reflected what little light there was around him.

He heard the sound of Oliver's jet get closer. He looked up to see LeBethany stood beside him. She didn't look happy.

"I should kill you for running off like that!" she spat.

He didn't respond. He just kept staring at his glasses.

"I'm speaking to you!?" she repeated.

The sound of Milly's overjoyed voice echoed through the building as she ran into LeBethany's outstretched arms. They hugged each other tightly.

"You're alive!" Milly weeped.

"I am." she responded looking up at Scott, her expression foul. "No thanks to mister fucking asshole there."

"I'm sorry." he said in almost a whisper.

"I could have died. A lucky shot is all that saved me!"

"I'm sorry Ms LeBethany." he repeated.

"What's the point of you having those guns if you're gonna run at the first sign of trouble!?"

"It was big." was all he managed to say.

LeBethany stood up, letting go of Milly. "Well from now on, no talking while we're on the move."

Scott nor Milly replied.

"If we hadn't been yapping like fucking idiots, then I would have heard that bastard coming, and we could have been in a much better place to defend ourselves. Oliver was knocked down in the first moment, meaning we lost a good fighter in the first few seconds, and then you pissed your pants and ran off!"

Nobody said anything. LeBethany turned and stepped outside for a few minutes leaving Scott feeling ashamed.

When she returned, she laid down their plan. "Right, we stay here for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we continue on." she glared at Scott. "Can I trust you to fight in the future?" she asked him.

"I don't know." he responded quietly.

"Thought as much." she replied derisively.

"I'm a doctor!" he yelled at her suddenly, his southern accent becoming more fierce. "I'm no gunman. A few days ago, I never even held a gun, say nothin' 'bout shootin' one at a big ol' creature thing!"

LeBethany turned away from him. "Look, I don't hate you. I'm just really angry with you right now."

Scott felt a tear roll down his cheek. "I'm sorry." he said to her. "I really am, I just dint think, it just happened."

"Just try better in the future."

"I hope I can." he replied.

"So do I."

Silence fell among them. LeBethany closed the door and checked the house. Satisfied that no one was there, or had been there recently, she returned to the room where Scott and Milly sat, which appeared as though it was once a kitchen. Now though it looked more like a junkyard than a kitchen.

"Right." she said to Scott. "We're pretty much set for the night. I suggest you go get some rest." she looked down at Milly. "You too."

Milly shook her head. "I'm not tired."

LeBethany folded her arms with a frown. "I'm not asking."

"It's not even afternoon yet." Scott pointed out. "Just gone eleven." he said looking at his Pipboy clock.

"Don't you start!" she threatened. She moved over towards the window and looked out of it at the brightly lit, dead limbed trees beyond. "Okay maybe it is a bit early." She turned to them and stared at Scott for a few moments. He squirmed nervously. "I'd like to be alone for a while." she said finally.

Scott nodded and took Milly and Oliver through to another room, leaving her alone in the kitchen.

Scott felt bad for what had happened. He had been a coward and it ate away at him. There was nothing he could do now, however. What was done was done, and there was nothing he could do to change that.

He sat down on what appeared to be a couch, Milly sat beside him quietly.

Scott looked at her. "I messed up didn't I?"

Milly didn't say anything, she just swung her legs backwards and forwards, kicking the base of the couch with her heels.

He looked over at Oliver. "Wadda you think?" he asked.

"I think this place needs a jolly good clean. Looks like it hasn't been cleaned in decades. You should all be ashamed of yourselves for letting it get into such a state. I suppose you'll blame the robot though, everyone does."

It looked like Oliver was back to his idiotic self, his brief episode of actually being intelligent had passed rather quickly.

"At least I have some medical know-how." he said aloud. "So I'm not a complete bum."

He looked down at his leg and gave it a quick rub. It still ached, but at least it didn't seem infected. At least not when he'd last looked at it.

"I'm off to check my wounds." he told Milly before heading off into another room.

After closing the door behind him, he made his way over to an old bed over by a small window and sat down on the edge of the lumpy mattress, the hinges squeaked as he put his weight on it.

He removed his thick trousers and removed the bandage. The wound looked only marginally better than it had done when he'd last looked at it.

LeBethany had called it a graze, yet the bullet had sliced open his flesh quite deeply. By looking at it, he couldn't help but feel that it should hurt far more than it did considering how bad it appeared.

He took his large overcoat off and removed the thick garment underneath and removed the bandage off of his shoulder, checking his wound. It looked a lot better than his leg.

Remembering back to when he had first awoken after being shot, he remembered how his wounds had been bandaged tightly over his clothes rather roughly. Even so, it did the job of keeping the wounds sealed and not exposed to the air.

The door suddenly opened and LeBethany stepped in. Realising that he was sat in only his boots and under shorts, she quickly retreated back out, pulling the door half closed behind her as Scott tried to cover himself.

"Sorry." she said to him from behind the door. "I didn't know you were redressing your wounds."

"It's fine Ms LeBethany, I was just lookin' at 'em." he responded.

There was a moments silence, before LeBethany spoke again. "I was just coming to say sorry for the way I reacted."

"No, I was a coward."

"No, you're not." she replied. "The thing was big. It scared the-." she paused. "Well it scared the shit out of me, and I deal with death like that nearly everyday."

"I still left y'all."

"I shouldn't have expected you to have fought it."

"It don't make it right, Ms LeBethany."

"Just call me Beth."

"Okay, Ms Beth."

"That'll do." she said. "I'll let you get on with it."

"Sure, Ms Beth."

The door closed fully and he was left alone in the room still feeling ashamed of himself. She had forgiven him, but he hadn't forgiven himself.

After several minutes he re-wrapped the wounds. Satisfied that they hadn't looked infected and redressed himself before stepping outside into the small hallway.

He sniffed the air to find he could smell something cooking. He made his way over to the kitchen area to find LeBethany stood over the oven, cooking some of the meat out of her backpack.

"That thing still works, Ms Beth?" he asked her.

"Found some energy cells laying around." she told him. "They'll have enough power to cook one meal, so enjoy some nice properly cooked food while you can, cause it'll most likely be only smoky camp fire cooked meat in the future."

Scott walked over to the table and cleared some of the trash off of it. He then looked around till he found some old plates. He pulled them out, finding that they were only a little dirty. He placed them on the table after a quick wipe with his less than clean hand and sat down with a sigh.

"It should be ready in about a half hour." she told him keeping her eye on the meat as it cooked in the grill. "Milly is in the other room, and Oliver is out back recharging his energy cells."

Scott sat down. "Yeah, okay." he said solemnly.

"Don't worry, you'll feel better when you've got some of this down your neck."

"yeah, maybe."

"I just wish we had some potatoes, and maybe a sauce of some-kind."

"Did ya have sauces back in California?" Scott asked her.

She looked back at him. "I guess."

He wasn't sure what exactly she meant by that, but he decided not to ask. He knew that he probably still wasn't in the best terms with her, even if on the outside it appeared as though she had forgiven him.

"I'm sorry." he said again.

"No need to keep apologising." she said to him. "What's done is done."

"I suppose."

She turned her attention to him. "Look, by the very fact that it upsets you so much, shows me that you really regret it. I forgive you, even if I might not ever be able to forget it."

"I don't forgive me."

"Stop moping for fuck sake."

He looked away. "Do ya always have t'curse?"

She laughed. "It might be easier for you to just get used to it." she turned back to the oven. "Look, the meal's nearly ready, go get Milly."

Scott stood up and went into the other room, returning moments later with Milly, who sat down at the table.

"Do we get knives and forks?" Milly asked.

Scott screwed up his face. "I don't think we outta be sticking stuff like that in our mouths. Who knows what's happened to 'em, or what's crawled over 'em."

Moments later they were all sat down at the table eating. The experience, while odd for all three of them, was especially odd for LeBethany who hadn't eaten at a dining table with other people for a long, long time. It reminded each of the three of better times, of better places.

Little happened for the rest of the day, and when the call of night came, they all went to bed in different rooms, while Oliver the robot patrolled the house.


End file.
